Forget Me Not
by The Silent Scream
Summary: Third Willow/Pat fic. Things are back to normal as much as it's possible in Sunnydale, but when what seems like a routine check of a brutal incident goes sour, the witch and her demon once more find themselves in trouble. Rated for Pat's potty mouth.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: As promised at the end of Sanity Fair, here goes the third fic of what by now is turning into a small series. It's recommended that the prequels _Hearts on Fire_ and _Sanity Fair_ have been read for this one to avoid several questions popping up, but not strictly necessary, as both fics are referenced in this one.

Disclaimer: The characters used from the Buffyverse are not mine, but property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy etc, lalala. Just borrowing them for a little while, promise I'll give 'em back.

Forget Me Not

If there was one thing Buffy was glad about when it came to the cemetery of Sunnydale, it was how secluded it was – no matter how much noise she made during patrol when she was fighting vampires, no one ever got torn out of their sleep and came to see what was going on, a fact which made patrolling and fighting much easier for her. Thus, she didn't worry much when she kicked one of the three vampires of the evening into the next gravestone hard enough to make said stone break noisily; at the beginning of her Slayer career, she had felt bad about breaking gravestones, but by now, she didn't really care much anymore – after all, the people those stones referred to were dead and wouldn't notice anymore, and if it bothered the relatives, they could always get a new one.

"You grave vandal", Pat, her patrol companion for the night, called out to her, causing Buffy to throw the taller woman a short glance and shrug; a second later, her eyes went wide, and she called out "Behind you!", giving the demon just enough time to turn around before the vampire who had been sneaking up behind her whacked her straight in the face with a wooden plank he had gotten from God knew where, sending her crashing into another gravestone and breaking it as well.

"Now we're both vandals", Buffy pointed out, casually staking the vampire with whom she had started the grave vandalism; grumbling, Pat came to her feet again, calling out "I didn't do it on purpose though!" to the Slayer while she ducked the plank as the vampire swung it at her again, then grabbed it with both hands and set it on fire, the vampire letting out a startled noise and loosening his grip on it, giving the demon a chance to jerk it out of his hands.

"Not so hot about fire, are you", she teased, only to make a long face when Buffy threw her a blank look and shook her head, the expression on her face making it clear without words that this pun hadn't been exactly good.

"Less making puns, more slaying", the Slayer now advised, causing the demon to roll her eyes in response – before she unceremoniously rammed the by now brightly burning wooden plank into the vampire's face, the creature letting out a howl of anguish before it vaporized, leaving nothing but dust behind.

"Two down, one to go", Pat stated, throwing the plank on the ground and stomping on it a few times – even if the cemetery was secluded enough to make sure no one would hear any sounds of fighting, a burning cemetery surely would attract unwanted attention.

"Speaking of that one", Buffy replied, looking around with a frown on her face, "where'd he go?"

"No idea", Pat gave back, glancing around as well and straining to hear any sounds which shouldn't be heard on a cemetery. "You think he ran off and into town?" she then added, turning to face Buffy; before the Slayer could reply though, the demon was tackled from behind and sprawled on the ground, the vampire grabbing her around the throat moments later and starting to choke her, obviously not all too interested in biting her. Reacting as quickly as she always did to such situations, Buffy rushed over to the two, the vampire noticing her just before she staked him; the dust he exploded into ended up covering Pat, the demon yelling as she sprang to her feet and started to dust herself off frantically.

"Ew, ew, gross, vampire dust!" she shouted, to the amusement of Buffy – even though she was more than two hundred years old and surely had faced much more disgusting things than vampire dust, it still freaked her out hilariously every time she ended up covered in it. "Plus, I think I got grass in my mouth", the demon now added, spitting noisily afterwards; not able to help herself, Buffy giggled, forcing herself to stop again though when Pat threw her a sour look and crossed her arms over her chest.

"You know, I've started to notice a pattern", she stated while the two started walking towards the cemetery's exit together, "whenever I go on patrol with you, they all jump me first. Why? You're the Slayer, not me, I'm just a harmless little fire demon!"

"Harmless", Buffy echoed, giving the taller woman an amused glance, "yeah right…"

"Well, maybe not that harmless", Pat admitted after a moment of consideration, "but anyway… Why?"

"Maybe the newbies think you're the Slayer", Buffy shrugged, smiling sweetly at her afterwards. "You are all tall and wiry-looking, and I often had newbie vampires tell me that they thought I'd be taller."

"But I'm a _demon_", Pat insisted, shaking her head at such stupidity, "shouldn't they be able to tell that? Being vampires and everything?"

"Well, you don't look that demonic in your human form", Buffy shrugged in reply, "maybe you should fire up before they pop out of their graves the next time you tag along with me…"

"I'll try that", the demon muttered, making Buffy smile and nod – before she playfully punched the taller woman's upper arm, her voice and facial expression making it clear that she wasn't fully serious about what she said next. "Or maybe you shouldn't. You know, it's kinda convenient, they're paying less attention on me so I can stake them more easily and you can heal almost anything in that demonic form of yours, so…"

"So?" Pat demanded to know, throwing the Slayer another sour look while she got out her pack of cigarettes and lit one of them up, "you wanna use me as bait from now on or something? I think I'll have to reconsider going on patrol with you."

"You know you can't resist", Buffy teased in reply, "after all, going on patrol with me guarantees that you'll get to beat something up…"

"Too true", the demon sighed out in reply, having to admit that the Slayer was right – even though she did look perfectly normal when she wasn't in her demonic form, and even though being with Willow for almost one and a half years by now had calmed her considerably, without succeeding to make her less protective of the witch though, she still had certain needs when it came to violent acts, needs she usually satisfied when going on patrol with Buffy.

"Well", she sighed out, pausing to take a long drag from her cigarette, "guess I can't say no to the chance of beating up vampires… and whatever other kind of monsters may cross our paths during those nightly walks together."

"Wow", the Slayer smirked, "that was almost poetic. Willow's rubbing off on you."

"I prefer it if she's rubbing against me", Pat replied absent-mindedly, only to have her eyes go wide a second later while she clapped one hand over her mouth; startled, Buffy stared at her, then started giggling again as the demon cleared her throat noisily. "Please don't tell her I said that… She's okay with it if I say such stuff to her, when we're alone, but not to our friends."

"I won't", Buffy reassured her, fighting down the urge to giggle again at the look of pure relief which appeared on the black haired woman's face in reply; she managed to keep the giggle inside, but not the smirk off her face while she patted the demon's shoulder, a mischief twinkle in her eyes as she spoke on. "Well, if you like that so much, I suggest you better hurry home then… It's not that late, so Willow might still be awake."

"Sounds like a plan", Pat replied, now smirking again as well, not telling Buffy to get home safely – she was the Slayer after all, and if she ever wouldn't be able to get home in one piece, it'd mean that things were really bad.

"See you tomorrow", the demon thus merely added, making Buffy nod; the two exchanged a brief smile before they finally parted ways, Pat whistling happily to herself as she made her way through the quiet nightly town, arriving at the apartment she by now practically shared with her loved one not all too long afterwards, a happy smile on her face as she entered the apartment building, knowing that within seconds, she'd see her girlfriend again.

* * *

To her dismay, the only thing she saw of Willow two minutes later was the redhead's hair, tousled and lying on the white pillow of their bed; the rest of the witch was hidden beneath the equally white blanket, the sight making Pat smirk while she shook her head to herself – thanks to her rather fiery nature, she hardly ever felt cold, and thus seldom bothered with heating the apartment, a fact which probably was responsible for Willow looking as if she had tried to wrap herself up in the blanket as thoroughly as possible before she had fallen asleep. Tiptoeing over to the bed, since she didn't want to wake the peacefully slumbering redhead, Pat carefully lifted the blanket, smiling at the sight of the sleeping Willow – she doubted that the witch ever really had noticed, but she felt as if she could spend hours with just looking at her, and often at least spent a few minutes doing just that, when Willow was studying and looking all concentrated, or when she was lounging on the couch, reading a book – or when she was asleep, just like now.

_Well, of course she wouldn't notice it then, seeing she's asleep, _the demon thought to herself, _just like she's now… Which is too bad actually… _

Holding back a sigh, she covered her girlfriend with the blanket again, then made her way to the kitchen, even though she knew she wouldn't find full satisfaction there – where Buffy sometimes ended up with her sweet tooth clamouring loudly to be stilled, slaying vampires more often than not awoke certain other needs within the demon, needs Willow usually took care of more than gladly, something which wasn't going to happen tonight though, not with the witch so fats asleep and Pat unwilling to tear her out of her slumber.

Once she had closed the kitchen door behind herself, the demon let out the sigh she had been holding back in the bedroom, then moved over to one of the cupboards, finding a pack of cookies there; while she tore it open and started to munch them down, she wondered if Buffy was doing the same thing right now – and if the Slayer ever came home horny as hell as well from her nightly duty, something the demon was dying to know, but didn't dare to ask. Taking one more cookie from the pack, she stuffed it into her mouth all at once, briefly resembling a hamster while she put the pack back into the cupboard, then found her cigarettes and lit one of them up once she had swallowed the cookie; mindful of how Willow sometimes complained about the smell of cooled cigarette smoke in the morning, she opened the window and gazed out into the night, smiling to herself as she thought of how she had finished that one obnoxious vampire off with the flaming wooden plank.

She hardly ever spoke to this about Willow, since it made the witch clearly uncomfortable, but it felt good to do such things to the vampires; before she had accepted that one fateful job to get rid of the Slayer, she had been doing quite similar stuff to humans for money, but now that she was with the witch, killing humans was off limits – _mostly, _the demon thought to herself with a smirk curling her lips again, remembering certain sorry business with a certain annoying guy who suffered from an overblown ego.

Still, even being hopelessly in love for practically the first time in her long life hadn't dulled her demonic nature, and the need for violence it brought along; this might have turned into a problem if Willow hadn't been best friends with the Vampire Slayer, said Slayer always more than willing to take Pat along on patrol and give her the perfect chance to get rid of those violent needs. Sometimes, the demon wondered if Willow know the true reason why she always was ready to accompany Buffy on patrol, a duty the other members of the Scoobie gang fulfilled much less willingly; if the redhead had any idea though, she never had mentioned it, the demon figuring though that as the best friend of the Slayer, the witch probably knew perfectly well that all demons had certain urges – even demons who were head over heels in love with humans.

"Not that this happens often", she muttered to herself, blowing a cloud of smoke out of the window and into the nightly sky; in fact, now that she was thinking about it again, she couldn't remember ever meeting any other demon to whom something like this had happened, and she shook her head to herself with a small smile on her face, once more remembering how confused she had been when she had realized how Willow made her feel deep inside. The sound of footsteps coming up behind her tore her out of her thoughts, and she turned around, surprised for a moment when she found herself looking at Willow; the witch gave her an adorable sleepy gaze, stepping up to her and snuggling close to her, yawning while Pat put an arm around her and pulled her even closer to herself.

"Did I wake you up?" she demanded to know, gently caressing the smaller woman's back, "if I did, sorry… I tried to be quiet…"

"You didn't wake me up", Willow reassured her in reply, a yawn interrupting her before she could speak on. "I woke up because I wanted to snuggle up to you and you weren't there… At first I was worried that something might have gone wrong on patrol, but then I heard you opening the window in here and knew everything's fine… Everything did go well during patrol, right?"

"Yeah", Pat reassured her, then remembered the ruined gravestones and grimaced briefly before she continued. "Well, mostly. Buffy and me both ended up being grave vandals."

"Grave vandals?" Willow echoed, her still sleepy mind not able to remember that she had seen the Slayer break gravestones several times already.

"Yeah", the demon confirmed, taking another drag of her cigarette before she spoke on, her words making the witch's eyes go wide seconds later. "Buffy threw one vampire against a gravestone and it broke, and then another one of those creeps smashed me in the face with a plank and I broke another one when I fell on it."

"What?" Willow gave back, sounding as shocked as she was looking, "you got hit in the face and then fell on a gravestone hard enough to break it? Oh my God, are you hurt?"

"Oh, no, I'm not", the demon quickly reassured her loved one, giving her a calming smile, "demon robustness, remember? It takes more than a pansy wooden plank and a gravestone… well, an old and thus eroded gravestone… to hurt me."

"Are you sure?" the witch demanded to know in reply, giving her a sceptic glance. "You're not just keeping it from me again so I wouldn't be worried, right?"

"No", Pat immediately replied, grimacing as she remembered the incident Willow was referring to – it had been a bit longer than a month ago when things hadn't gone as smoothly as usual on patrol and she had ended up badly bruised, trying to keep it from the witch since she didn't want to worry her, without much success though as Willow had noticed right in the next morning. "I'm fine, really… As I said, that gravestone was pretty old, it broke easily."

"Okay", the redhead accepted after another moment of studying the demon closely, yawning once more afterwards, all at once appearing sleepy again as she gestured at the cigarette her girlfriend was still holding. "Are you done with that soon? I'm kinda tired and I want you to go to bed with me…"

"You know I'll go to bed with you anytime", Pat smiled in reply, a mischief glint appearing in her eyes before she spoke on. "Or to the kitchen table, in case the bed seems too far away…"

"Or to the living room couch", Willow added, giggling to herself; smiling at that certain memory, Pat nodded, then put out her cigarette and surprised the witch a second later by picking her up on her arms, the redhead letting out a squeal before she smiled as well, putting both arms around the taller woman's neck and kissing her tenderly.

"Just don't drop me", she then stated, the demon immediately shaking her head; she turned around slightly so Willow could close the window, then carried her out of the kitchen and into the bedroom, kicking the door close behind herself, the apartment soon falling silent as the couple laid down and quickly drifted off into dreamland, as always falling asleep holding each other close.


	2. Chapter 2

In the next morning, Willow was the first one to wake up, as she always did even if the alarm clock hadn't been set; since her first class for the day would only start in the early afternoon, she hadn't bothered with putting up the alarm, quickly checking the clock anyway though to make sure that she hadn't slept too long, smiling to herself and snuggling closer to the still slumbering Pat once she had reassured herself that there was enough time for this. Just like Pat was fond of watching her when she was sleeping or concentrated on something, she liked it to study her lover while the demon was fast asleep, enjoying how calm and peaceful she always looked then.

To her slight dismay, she hardly ever had the chance to do this for long though – somehow, the demon always sensed her looking at her even in her sleep, and woke up, something she also did now, blinking sleepily as she looked up at her girlfriend.

"Good morning", Willow smiled, bending down for a good morning kiss; afterwards, Pat let out a hearty yawn, beginning to stretch, something she did every morning after waking up – only that this time, she stopped in mid-movement, her eyes going wide before she slumped back down on the mattress, her voice sounding strangely repressed when it came up. "Ow."

"Ow?" Willow repeated, sounding concerned, "what's wrong? What happened?"

"Ow", the demon just brought out in reply again, squeezing her eyes shut afterwards and taking in a few deep breaths before she forced herself to look at the witch again, sounding meek as she continued. "Remember when I said I'm fine yesterday night?"

Nodding, Willow's concern reached new heights as she waited for the demon to go on; a moment later, Pat did so, by now sounding as if she was giving her best not to start screaming. "I think… I wasn't fully right… Ow goddammit!"

With the last two words, she finally lost her self-control, gritting her teeth and groaning; now so worried that she was close to freaking up, Willow sat up next to her, for a moment feeling helpless as she wasn't sure what she could do.

"Should I try a healing spell?" she finally stated, insecure, her eyes lightning up a second later as another idea came to her mind. "Or you could go into your demon form and heal it! That would make it all better, right?"

"I'd have to get out of bed for that though", Pat brought in reply, sounding as if she was close to bursting into another bout of cursing any second, "and honestly, I'm not sure if I can do that… Damn that vampire to Hell!"

"I'll help you", the witch offered in response, getting out of bed a moment later; it took a lot of cursing and several groans and winces to get Pat out of bed, but finally, they had managed, the demon taking in a deep breath while Willow grimaced at the sight of her back, her heart aching as she studied the bruised skin.

"Next time, I'll fall to the ground", she grumbled to herself, shaking her head to herself. "Fucking gravestone…"

"Language", Willow automatically replied, taking a few steps back as she knew what was about to come; during the eighteen months she had been with Pat now, she only had seen her demonic form a few times, but whenever it had happened, the flames had been hot enough to make her keep a safe distance, until the demon thought of toning them down. Taking in a deep breath, Pat briefly closed her eyes; moments later, the noises of her body changing filled the room, Willow watching in silent fascination how her girlfriend grew bigger and broader, her black and red hair spreading until it had turned into fur which covered her whole body, the details of her appearance obscured by the brightly burning fire which was surrounding her.

"Try not to set anything on fire", Willow advised, smiling slightly as the glowing red eyes of her girlfriend focused on her; anyone else probably would have died on the spot from a heart attack at that sight, the witch clearly unimpressed though as she just waited for her girlfriend to get done with the healing. Since the injury she had taken when she had fallen on the gravestone had been more painful than dangerous, it didn't take long for that to happen; a minute after she had "demoned out", as Buffy always called it, she returned to her human form, looking so relieved that it almost made Willow giggle.

"Better?" she then asked, stepping closer to her girlfriend and putting both arms around her; nodding, Pat let out a happy sigh, only to frown a moment later as she looked down on the smaller redhead, the expression on her face causing Willow to give her a curious look.

"I'm still not comfortable with doing this in front of you", the demon explained as an answer to that glance, moving one hand up to run it through her hair, "I know it's silly, and I know by now it won't scare you away, but still…"

"It is silly", Willow confirmed, giggling at the offended look her girlfriend gave her, "but a cute kind of silly… as far as this makes sense. And actually, your demon form's kinda cute too…"

"What?" the demon gave back, flabbergasted; giggling again, the redhead nodded and winked at her, then changed the topic by asking if Pat felt fit enough now to make breakfast with her, making her girlfriend nod in reply, the taller woman mumbling "Cute demon form… can't believe it" to herself as she made her way to the kitchen with the redhead, Willow only giggling again in reply, successfully ignoring the disbelieving looks Pat kept throwing her as they prepared breakfast together, the demon thus soon forgetting her irritation about the comment she had made and simply enjoying the happy, peaceful atmosphere between them.

* * *

The plan for the rest of the day had been to spend a calm evening in the apartment, maybe with watching some movies and eating popcorn; those plans were busted though when the phone rang shortly after Willow had left, Pat holding back a sigh as she glanced at the display and immediately recognized the number.

"Hi Buffy", she greeted right after picking up, the Slayer returning the greeting, the serious sound of her voice making it clear that she wasn't just calling for pleasant chit-chat, something which would have been rather out of character for her anyway.

"I know you and Willow were planning a cuddly evening tonight", the blonde stated on her end of the line, "and I really hate to keep you from that, but… something might be coming up."

"Details?" Pat gave back, lightning up a cigarette while she waited for the Slayer to go on, not even bothering to make a comment about the lost chance to a cuddly evening – by now, she had been friends with Buffy long enough to know that sometimes, such plans couldn't just be fulfilled due to demon-hunting business, and the Slayer knew her well enough to be aware of the fact that she wouldn't bear a grudge about it.

"Not too many, not yet", Buffy sighed out, "and to be honest, I'm not even sure if it's really worth investigating, but… You know that warehouse close to the city limits?"

"Yeah, sure", the demon shrugged, wondering where this was leading, Buffy telling her just this a moment later. "Well, the night watchman was found dead, Giles read it in the paper this morning and told me. Usually, random people being found dead in Sunnydale is nothing all too surprising, but in that case… You know, usually, the death is noted down as blood loss or, to use a slightly more medical term, neck trauma, not to decapitation."

"Decapitation", Pat echoed, sounding so stunned that momentarily, Buffy asked herself if the demon didn't know what it meant, something which seemed highly unlikely, but still she decided to clarify.

"It means his head is gone", she thus stated helpfully, making the black haired woman roll her eyes, ignoring the fact that the Slayer couldn't see that.

"I know what it means, thanks", she then stated dryly, "I've actually done it myself a few times. And that's an unusual thing to happen here? We are in Sunnydale after all."

"Well, the decapitation itself, probably not", Buffy admitted after a moment, "but the fact that his head is gone, yeah, that is unusual… And as if stealing the poor guy's head wasn't enough, the warehouse has been broken into as well."

"You have any idea what was taken?" Pat demanded to know, now curious despite the serious situation; to her dismay, Buffy declined, her next words making the demon raise an eyebrow. "See, the funny thing is, no one does. Giles tried to find something out, but it was practically impossible to figure out who has been renting the place and what they have been storing there."

"So it was something supernatural, or evil, or both", the black haired woman immediately replied, raising an eyebrow to herself when all she could hear in response was silence. "What?" she thus went on after a few more moments of quietness coming through the line, "as I pointed out before, we are in Sunnydale."

"Oh, yeah, of course you're right", Buffy finally found her voice again, "it's just that Giles said exactly the same thing. Word for word."

"Oh", the demon gave back smartly, not sure if she should like that thought or not – even after knowing for the Watcher for quite some time by now, she still found it unnerving how stiff and polite he always seemed to be. "Let me guess", she shrugged it off after a moment, "he wants you to check the place out now?"

"Exactly", Buffy gave back, "and that's why I'll probably have to ruin your cuddly evening with Willow, cause I'd like you to come along… I don't doubt I'll have trouble with whatever has torn that poor man's head off, but it'll be dark, and you're a walking torch, so…"

"A flashlight wouldn't be sufficient?" Pat gave back, a bit stunned that the Slayer actually wanted her along to provide light – she didn't doubt either that Buffy would have no problems in case some nasty beasty should show up, but she couldn't really see why the blonde just didn't bring along a light.

"Flashlight means I'll have to hold it", the blonde now started to explain, "which might be bad in case that decapitating thing comes back. You on the other hand, you can just stand there, looking all cool and flamey with both hands free while providing light."

"Makes sense", the demon had to admit after a moment, "if whoever… or whatever… is responsible for this really just tore off that guy's head, it must be very strong, and you'll need both hands to fight it… In case it even shows up."

"Which I hope it does, before any more people end up rather headless", the Slayer gave back, a small sigh escaping her before she spoke on. "So you'll tag along?"

"Sure", Pat shrugged in reply, figuring that finding out whatever had been taken from the warehouse and what it might be used for was important enough to give up her plans of just spending a calm evening with her girlfriend, not to mention the fact that whatever had torn off the poor night watchman's head needed to be stopped as well.

"You want Willow to come too?" she asked after a moment of considering this, even though she already sensed what Buffy's answer to that would be. "She could help with figuring out anything supernatural we might find there."

"True, but I'd rather have her stay at your place", the Slayer responded, not really surprising the demon much. "If this thing really appears, she might end up in danger, and…"

"…and we don't want that to happen", Pat finished for her, making Buffy agree whole-heartedly; afterwards, the two quickly settled for the demon picking the Slayer up with her car at eight, so they wouldn't need to walk to the warehouse, then Pat ended the call and sighed to herself as she looked at the couch longingly, knowing that at least tonight, no cuddling would happen there, her dismay about this fact clearly showing on her face while she finished her cigarette – before she forced herself to shrug it off, telling herself that helping Buffy with whatever was going on exactly was more important than this and there would be plenty of chances to cuddle later on, not having an idea about how wrong she was.


	3. Chapter 3

"Promise you'll be careful", Willow demanded as she stood at the apartment door with her loved one, looking up at her, clearly concerned. "Don't let this thing rip your head off, in case it will show up there."

"I'll give my best", the demon reassured her, giving her a smile before she asked her, for the hundredth time or so, if she really was fine with staying behind – the witch had accepted this surprisingly quick, years of being friends with the Slayer having taught her that Buffy was usually right when she thought it was too dangerous to come along, but still Pat was worried that she might not take it as lightly as she seemed to.

"I'll be fine", the witch reassured her girlfriend in reply, for the hundredth time as well, "don't worry about me… Well, as fine as I'll be able to be, with you going there and probably putting yourself in danger. I'll just sit around here and anxiously wait for you to come back…"

"I'd tell you that I'll be quick, but I have no idea how long it might take", Pat sighed out in reply, Willow reassuring her that she understood – before she almost pushed the demon out the door, telling her to get moving or she'd be late.

"Take care", she repeated once more afterwards, making the taller woman nod before she bent down to kiss her tenderly; suddenly not being bothered about the possibility of Pat arriving later than it had been agreed upon at Buffy's place, Willow responded to the kiss, wrapping both arms around her girlfriend and pulling her closer to herself as it deepened and became more passionate.

"Okay", the demon muttered once she had pulled back, sounding slightly out of breath, "I better really get going now, or I won't go anywhere at all tonight…"

Nodding, Willow forced herself to pull back from the embrace, making Pat give her a slightly rueful smile before she finally turned and left; remaining in the doorway, the witch watched her go, her heart suddenly beating faster in her chest as a terrible sense of foreboding filled her, all at once convincing her that, if she'd let Pat go now, something truly horrible would happen.

For a moment, she felt like calling her back, telling her to stay, maybe pleading her to if it should be necessary; then, she scolded herself to not be silly and kept her mouth shut, merely watching the demon until she had stepped into the elevator and was out of sight.

With a small sigh, the redhead returned into the apartment, closing the door behind herself and locking it; still filled with that dark emotion, she made her way to the couch and sat down there, turning on the TV to distract herself from the nagging voice in the back of her mind that letting Pat go had been a terrible mistake and that it would have dire consequences, not really surprised when she didn't succeed.

* * *

"There we are", Pat stated forty minutes later, parking the car close to the warehouse where the corpse had been found in the morning; brightly yellow "Police Line – Do Not Cross" labelled tape had been fixed to the fence, but the demon knew that this wouldn't stop the Slayer while she killed the engine and got out of the car with Buffy, her senses alert as she looked around the deserted area.

"Seems like they didn't have time to hire a new night watchman", she commented when she only was greeted with nightly silence; next to her, Buffy nodded while she opened the car's back door and got out the favoured weapons of Pat and herself, a sword for her and a large axe for the demon.

"They might have trouble finding one, with the reason for why they need a new one all over the news", she commented, handing the axe to Pat; nodding as well, the demon took a firm hold of the axe, then made her way to the fence with Buffy, satisfied to see it wasn't too high – she was a formidable fighter, just like the Slayer, but her climbing skills weren't all too impressive.

"Promise you won't tell anyone if I fall on my butt", she stated, looking at Buffy again; smirking, the blonde nodded in reply, both of them throwing their weapons over the fence afterwards before Buffy started to climb, going first since the wire probably wouldn't have been able to take the weight of both the demon and her.

As soon as she had safely arrived on the ground on the other side of the fence, Pat let out a dismayed sigh, then started climbing up as well; once or twice, she did come dangerously close to falling off and landing on her butt, but in the end, she managed to get down on the other side as well without embarrassing herself, grimacing at the thought of doing that once more as soon as they had gotten done with their business here.

"Wait", she claimed when Buffy picked up her sword again and started to move towards the warehouse, "you should put these on, the police might go on snuffing around here tomorrow and we don't want to leave any fingerprints, do we?"

With those words, she pulled a pair of gloves out of her pocket, handing one of them to the Slayer; impressed, Buffy put them on, having to admit that she hadn't thought of that, throwing the taller woman a curious look afterwards.

"How come you're not using any?" she then asked, Pat giving her a smile in reply while she picked up her axe again and rested the shaft on her shoulder, now starting to walk to the warehouse with the blonde beside her.

"Demon, remember?" she stated, eying the warehouse as they approached it, looking for any sign of a head-removing monster. "I don't leave fingerprints."

"Makes sense", Buffy had to admit, stopping as they reached the rather large, dark building; the door had been locked by the police, but of course the two didn't let that stop them, Buffy taking care of the matter by simply kicking the door had enough to make it fly open.

"Some light now please", she smiled, looking at the demon; in response, Pat burst into flames, then stepped into the warehouse, the fire which was burning brightly all over her body illuminating the large room enough to let them see what was stored there, a grimace immediately forming on both Buffy's face and hers as they saw the jars with various organs swimming in them, suspended in a clear fluid, lined up on the high shelves.

"Ew", the Slayer finally mumbled, taking a closer look at what seemed to be a human heart, "what the…? Why would they store something like that here? And there's so much of it!"

"I have no…" Pat began, falling silent though when glass crunched beneath her shoe; looking down, she found herself standing close to a puddle of the stuff in which the organs in the jars were floating, the one which had been in the broken jar lying in the puddle, the demon's eyes going wide as she noticed how fresh it still looked and realized what this meant.

"We ought to get out of here", she brought out, turning around to face the Slayer again, quickly speaking on at the curious look Buffy gave her in reply. "That glass broke not too long ago… See how… uh… fresh that thing still looks? It should have dried out if it's been exposed to air too long, but, well…"

"Gross", Buffy muttered, throwing a disgusted look at what she presumed was a kidney, "but yeah, you do have a point… Someone's been here not all too long ago, broke that, and maybe still is around… We should—"

Before she could say what they should do, the lights in the warehouse suddenly were switched on, the bright glare of neon lamps momentarily stunning the two; thanks to the light Pat had been providing with her fire though, their eyes hadn't been forced to get used to darkness and thus quickly adjusted, allowing them to see the group of vampires standing lined up at the shelves, vicious smirks appearing on the ugly faces the moment the gazes of Buffy and Pat fell on them.

Before they had the chance to move, the vampires all had grabbed the shelves they were standing close to, throwing them over; the tremendous din of breaking glass filled the room, followed by the stench of formaldehyde, the Slayer's eyes widening when she realized the intention of their attackers as one of them pulled a pack of matches from his pocket.

He gave her a fangy smile, then lit one of the matches up and threw it into the nearest puddle; with an audible _foomph, _the formaldehyde caught fire, the flames spreading quickly, climbing up the shelves and towards the ceiling, smoke filling the air already while the vampires turned and rushed out in perfect unison, the door slamming shut behind them.


	4. Chapter 4

"We have to get out of here!" Pat shouted behind her, unaffected by the fire and the smoke; she knew though that this wouldn't be the case for Buffy, the Slayer already looking distressed by the heat rising all around them, but nodding immediately nonetheless, knowing what would happen if the still intact jars became too hot and shattered. Fighting down the urge to take in a deep breath, Buffy used her t-shirt to cover her mouth and nose as she started to rush towards the door leading outside, avoiding the flames the best she could, Pat close behind her; she wasn't surprised to find the door had been somehow blocked from the outside, the thick wood it had been made of it budging just the tiniest bit when she tried to pull it open.

"They blocked it", she shouted towards the demon, a coughing fit shaking her afterwards; wordlessly, Pat pushed past her and started to use her axe on the door, hitting it with all the strength she could muster, glad that whoever had set this up obviously hadn't thought of her demonic nature and the immunity it gave her to fire and smoke.

"Hurry", Buffy gasped behind her, another coughing fit interrupting her before she could speak on, the smoke by now filling the entire warehouse, making her eyes water and scratching her throat, despite the thin layer of fabric she tried to keep over her mouth and nose, "I can't take this as easily as you…"

"I know", Pat reassured her, striking out with the axe again; before she could hit the door once more though, a suspicious creaking sound coming from the ceiling gained her attention, and she automatically looked up, familiar enough with fire and the effects it had on buildings to recognize the noise as potentially dangerous. Her eyes briefly went wide as she saw one of the rather long and thick wooden ceiling beams come loose; she just had enough time to shove Buffy out of the way rather harshly, making the Slayer stumble and fall close to the wall, one of the few spots the flames hadn't reached yet, before the beam came down, a shocked cry escaping the Slayer when she saw it striking the demon and sent her sprawling to the ground flat on her back, the axe clattering out of her suddenly limp fingers and landing on the floor next to her.

Coughing to herself, Buffy forced herself to her feet again and grabbed the weapon, continuing where Pat had stopped to get her out of the falling beam's way; from time to time, she glanced at the lifeless form of the demon as she hacked at the door, glad that at least, she didn't need to worry about the taller woman ending up burned to a crisp, her heart still full with worry as she saw the blood trickling down the unconscious demon's face. Collecting all the strength she could muster, and trying to ignore the constant need to cough, Buffy hacked at the door two more times before a part of it suddenly broke and fell out, letting in a gust of fresh air the Slayer greedily sucked into her burning lungs.

Spurred on by the opening she had created and the cool nightly air said opening provided, she went on with the destruction of the wood, creating a hole big enough which would allow her to crawl through and drag the demon out with her; grabbing Pat's collar, she did just that, silently praying that the taller woman would be alright as she made it outside, collapsing to the cool ground there and gasping heavily, forcing herself to take slow breaths though as the last thing she needed would be to start hyperventilating now.

She allowed herself to rest for half a minute, trying to soothe the burning in her lungs with slow, deep breaths and trying to stop her eyes from watering; then, she grabbed the collar of the still lifeless Pat again and dragged her farther away from the burning warehouse, knowing that she had to get her out of the danger zone created by the unpleasant prospect of the whole building collapsing.

Once she could be sure that she was far away enough to be out of the way of any building parts which might end up airborne during the inevitable collapse of the building, she carefully lowered the demon to the ground again, kneeling beside her and as tenderly as possible checked her head for the wound she obviously had taken, wincing when she located the gash and saw how large it was.

"You better be alright, or Willow's gonna kill me", she mumbled, gently patting the taller woman's cheek even though Giles had told her several times by now that this didn't help to wake unconscious people up; at least this time though, it seemed to work for once, since Pat let out a barely audible groan, her eyelids fluttering before they opened, the demon looking at the Slayer clearly dazed.

"Oh thank God", Buffy sighed out, giving the black haired woman a hopefully calming smile before she spoke on. "You took quite the blow to the head, but it'll be fine… Do you think you can get up and walk? If not, I can probably carry you to the car, we'll have to make a hole in the fence, but that shouldn't be a problem, you just have to tell me…"

Noticing that the demon was still staring at her rather dazed, the Slayer fell silent, asking herself if Pat had taken some brain damage when the beam had hit her; then, the black haired woman spoke up, her words making the eyes of the Slayer go wide as her breath got stuck in her throat, the blonde unable to believe her ears at the question the demon asked her. "Who the Hell are you?"

* * *

"I… I'm Buffy", she finally made herself say, her mind running wild as she tried to figure out how to handle this. "The Vampire Slayer?" she added helpfully, her hopes that this might trigger some memory not being fulfilled though – instead, the demon's eyes went wide before she sat up and scrambled away from her as fast as she could, coming to her feet a bit shakily at last.

"The Vampire Slayer!" she repeated, Buffy staring at her with wide eyes as she tried to figure out what was going on, "no wonder my head hurts like Hell! You shouldn't have waited until I woke up again though…"

"What?" Buffy gave back, flabbergasted, coming to her feet again as well, "what are you talking about? I didn't do this to you!"

"Demon", Pat gave back, all at once with a sardonic sound in her voice the Slayer never had heard from her before, pointing to herself before she aimed her finger at the blonde. "Slayer. Do the math. I don't know what you're up to, Slayer, but if you want to take me out, you better do it quick… And I won't go down without a fight, headache or not."

"Listen", Buffy gave back after a moment of trying to sort her racing thoughts, "I do not want to take you out. We were not fighting, we've come here together, we're friends and you were helping me! You've been dating my best friends for eighteen months now! We were in there, in that burning warehouse, and a beam hit you on the head, that's why it hurts, and that's probably why you can't remember… Please, just calm down and let me take you to Willow, that gash needs to be checked…"

"You really must go up against some stupid demons usually, if you think I'll believe any of this", Pat snarled in reply, giving her such a cold and emotionless look that it made shivers run up and down her spine. "I don't know what game you're playing, Slayer, but I'm not willing to play along…"

And with those words, she not only burst into flames, but immediately took on her demonic form, causing Buffy to let out a gasp as she realized how serious this situation actually was; for a moment, her instincts wanted to kick in and just make her bury her axe in the demon's skull, then she threw it away, telling herself that she couldn't harm Pat, that what she was about to do wasn't really her fault.

Thus, she threw the axe away and brought up her fist; she ducked the first swing the demon made at her, letting herself fall down to the ground and kicking Pat's legs out from underneath her, causing her to end up on the ground with a low growl, the grass immediately set on fire, making Buffy momentarily glad that her clothes had only been in contact with the burning fur of the demon for the split of a second, keeping her from being set aflame as well. Still, she had to realize that the battle might be harder than she had thought at first, with the demon burning brightly – each hit she'd land would endanger her of burning herself or setting herself on fire, and each hit Pat might gave her might thus hurt her much more than regular punches or kicks did.

"Stop it", she thus shouted while the demon struggled to her feet again, trying to land another punch; she dodged it successfully, picking the axe up and using the thick wooden shaft to whack Pat in the chest hard enough to send her a few steps back. "I don't want to fight you!"

"Makes it easier for me", the demon growled in response, raising her fist; realizing what she was about to do, Buffy dived to the right just as the fireball was shot at her, holding on to the axe as she rolled off one shoulder and came to her feet again, the thrown fire hitting the ground where she had been standing two seconds ago.

While she had been dodging the first fireball though, Pat already had been preparing a second one, and it hit the ground right in front of her moments later; startled, Buffy launched herself backwards, stumbling over an unseen clump of earth and grass moments later and falling to the ground, landing flat on her back, her head connecting hard with a stone halfway buried in the loose earth.

Groaning, she rolled over, hurriedly coming to her feet again; when she turned around though, the demon was gone, the only indicator that she had been here being the patches of burning grass, the Slayer slowly lowering her axe as she looked around and tried to figure out where she had gone – and what she was supposed to do now to set all of this right again.


	5. Chapter 5

"Buffy!" Willow cried out in shock the blink of an eye after she had opened the door to the Slayer's frantic knocking, her eyes going wide at the smears of soot all over Buffy's face and hands, the unpleasant smell of cold smoke rising from the blonde's clothes and making the witch grimace.

"What happened? And… where's Pat?" Her voice trembled slightly at the last words, fear filling her heart when Buffy just shook her head in reply, then asked her if she could come in; quickly, the redhead stepped aside to let her enter, the two moving to the living room and sitting down there, the Slayer taking in a deep breath, preparing herself for what she had to tell her best friend, Willow watching her anxiously.

"The thing at the warehouse was a setup", she finally started to explain, interrupted by a cough before she could go on. "A group of vampires was waiting for us there, and they set it on fire… It didn't effect Pat, naturally, but then one of the beams came down, she shoved me out of the way and it hit her…"

"Where is she?" Willow demanded to know in reply, her voice now so full of fear and worry that it broke Buffy's heart as she knew what she had to tell her best friend next. "She's… she's not dead, right?"

"No", the Slayer gave back, reaching out to take a tender hold of Willow's hand and giving it a gentle squeeze, "she's not… But… I don't know where she is… That beam hit her in the head, and she must have lost her memories, she didn't know who I was when she woke up and attacked me…"

For a while, Willow just sat there, staring at her, her eyes filled with disbelief – before she suddenly jerked her hand out of Buffy's grip, jumped up from her seat and started to pace the room, the Slayer watching her with a troubled expression on her face.

"This can't be true", the witch muttered to herself, running both hands through her hair in a gesture of pure distress, "please tell me this is just some silly prank the two of you came up with to freak me out… I promise I won't get mad…"

"It's not", Buffy gave back, getting up from the couch afterwards and moving over to the witch, stopping her frantic pacing by grasping both of her shoulders. "But I promise you that we'll take care of this", she stated firmly, holding Willow's gaze with hers. "We'll find her, and then we'll figure out how to solve this…"

In response, the redhead just stared at her again, breathing heavily, making the Slayer realize that she was close to hyperventilating; feeling awfully helpless, she pulled the unresisting Willow closer to herself for a comforting embrace, a shiver running through the redhead's body as she fully processed her best friend's words.

"Shht", the Slayer soothingly mumbled when a sob shook her friend, "it'll be okay… I promise…"

When in response, the witch only kept sniffling and sobbing, Buffy closed her eyes briefly, her friend's misery bringing her close to tears as well, the guilt she had been successfully repressing so far flaring up brightly within her.

"If I had known this would happen, I never would have taken her along", she mumbled, caressing Willow's trembling back tenderly, trying to give her some comfort. "I'm so sorry Willow…"

"It's not your fault", the witch brought out after a few moments of more sniffling, pulling back slightly and giving the Slayer a teary-eyed look. "And I know you wouldn't have taken her along if you had known it's a trap… Do you know who's responsible for this?"

This question was unexpected, and so all Buffy could do was stare at her for a moment – before she shook her head, a small sigh escaping her. "No… We'll have to look into this as soon as we fixed everything with Pat, but it's weird… Usually, vampires aren't so keen on working together, but they did at that warehouse…"

"We should call an emergency meeting, first thing tomorrow morning", Willow gave back in reply, making the Slayer realize that this was the easiest way for her to handle all this – by taking as much control as she could, keeping her mind busy and thus away from the topic of her amnesiac girlfriend. "We'll be able to figure something out then…"

"Yes", Buffy reassured her, giving her a hopefully calming smile. "Everything will be fine… Do you want me to stay here for the night?"

After a moment of thinking about this, the witch nodded; Buffy gave her another reassuring smile, then put an arm around her shoulders and led her into the bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed until the redhead had fallen into an uneasy sleep, the Slayer not getting much rest that night as her guilty conscience kept her awake until at last, the next morning dawned.

* * *

Just like Willow had suggested, the first thing Buffy did in the next morning was call everyone and tell them to meet at the Magic Box in an hour, only telling them all that it was an emergency, not wanting to spend too much time on the phone while Willow sat at the kitchen table with that crestfallen expression on her face, staring at the empty seat Pat always was using in the morning. The cup of coffee the Slayer had put on the table in front of her before she had started making calls was untouched, the dark liquid by now probably cold; hanging up the phone at last, Buffy moved over to the table and sat down next to the witch, giving her a concerned glance.

"I won't ask you if you're alright", she carefully spoke up, "that'd probably be the dumbest question possible at the moment… But, I will promise you once more that we'll figure something out…"

"What if we won't find her?" Willow gave back, looking at the blonde with fresh tears in her eyes, her voice trembling as she spoke on. "What if we figure out how to undo this amnesia thing, and then we can't find her? She could have left town already, we have no idea where to look for her or how to find her, or what if she's hurt, dying somewhere in a ditch or something, every vampire and demon here knows she's been working with you, they'll be out to get her…"

"Hush", Buffy interrupted her before she could talk herself into a hysterical fit, "she'll be okay… Her wound probably healed when she demoned out, so she's physically fine, and she knows how to defend herself…"

"You're right", Willow had to admit after a moment, taking in a deep breath to calm herself down. "She knows that… You don't know how much she forgot, right…?"

"At least the last eighteen months", Buffy gave back, hating herself for having to tell her best friend that awful truth. "Maybe even more than that… She didn't know who I was until I told her, and she didn't really react when I pointed out she's been dating you, or told her your name… She thought I was trying to mess with her mind, or something."

She almost expected Willow to start crying again at hearing that, but the witch did no such thing; instead, she just took in a few deep breaths, then merely nodded, rising from her seat afterwards, the coffee in front of her still untouched.

"I'll go have a shower", she let the Slayer know, to the blonde's relief sounding a bit calmer again. "I don't wanna show up at the Magic Box all smelly or something…" Buffy just nodded in reply, figuring that she technically should shower as well – and go home to change her clothes, since they still smelled of smoke from the fire, shrugging it off though, telling herself that meeting the others as fast as possible was much more important than smelling pleasantly right now.

Thus, she just waited for Willow to get done, keeping herself busy by picking up the coffee cup she had prepared for the witch and poured the untouched content into the sink before she cleaned the cup and dried it, putting it back into the cupboard afterwards; as she did so, her gaze fell on a novelty mug with the quite rude imprint "Fuck you fuckin' fuck" on it, a giggle escaping her despite the seriousness of the whole situation when she remembered how Willow had given Pat that mug, with the comment that it fit perfectly to her dirty mouth.

Unable to help herself, the Slayer imagined how Willow must have looked when she had bought that mug, how she had probably been blushing and clearing her throat at the shop's counter, giving her best to keep anyone else from seeing the vulgar imprint; then, she forced her attention away from the mug and put it back into the cupboard, her smile fading as she asked herself the questions Willow had been pondering the previous night. Even though she never would have told this the witch, she had to admit to herself that she had no idea how to find Pat; after all, the demon was a skilled assassin, had been for more than two hundred years before she had met Willow and had given up that peculiar kind of job, and if there was one thing she was better at than the Slayer, it was making sure she wouldn't be found unless she wanted it.

Another thing Buffy never would say to Willow, but at least had to consider, was how dangerous Pat might be again, now that she had lost her memories and thus all of her feelings for the witch; even though they never had spoken about it, the Slayer had been well aware of the fact that sometimes, her love for Willow had been the only rein to the natural need for violence the demon had been struggling with, and now that this was gone… Buffy shuddered as she remembered how Pat had attacked her the previous night, the sheer brutality and violence of the punches; if one of them had connected, it would have been horribly painful, even for the Slayer and even if the demon's fists hadn't been burning brightly.

The last thing she wanted was to kill the demon, desperate to avoid this at all cost; still she knew that it might come to this in the end, that, if they didn't find a way to restore the demon's memories, she might end up in a fight to the death with Pat.

"I just hope Willow won't be around in case this happens", she muttered to herself, a small sigh following her words; the sound of the shower stopping in the bathroom distracted her from her thoughts, and she realized that Willow had gotten with her morning routine, quickly focusing on lighter topics as she didn't want the witch to notice anything was amiss and maybe ask her what was going on.

To her relief, the redhead apparently didn't have a clue about the dark thoughts which had been running through her best friend's mind; she only smiled briefly and weakly at her as she came out of the bathroom, then vanished in the bedroom to get dressed, joining the Slayer in the kitchen a few minutes later.

"Ready to go?" Buffy asked, giving her a cheerful smile which felt way too fake on her face; Willow nodded in reply, giving her a weak smile which looked much more honest though, the Slayer patting her arm reassuringly before they left the apartment together and headed to the Magic Box, both of them silently hoping that by now, Giles maybe even had been able to figure something out.


	6. Chapter 6

When Willow came back to the apartment several hours later, she felt down and depressed despite having tried so hard not to; even though she had known it was silly, her hopes had been high when she had gone to the Magic Box, only to have them crushed when Giles had told her that, before he could try to figure anything about the amnesia out, they'd need to find Pat, and that he hadn't come up with a plan about how to do this so far.

Afterwards, they had done some brainstorming, trying to figure out how to find the demon; Buffy had pointed out that this might be hard, with Pat having the experience of two centuries of being an assassin, and even though they all had tried hard, even Anya, they hadn't really been able to come up with anything practical. The fact that Giles was quite sure Pat would come after Buffy sooner or later and thus, a plan to find her might be unnecessary anyway, had been supposed to calm Willow down when the Watcher had pointed it out, but it had done the exact opposite – after all, the redhead knew that her girlfriend had attacked Buffy right after she had woken up from unconsciousness, and knew that she would do so again when she'd come after the Slayer, the thought to where this might lead sending shivers up and down the redhead's spine.

Buffy had reassured her that she didn't want to kill the demon, and that she'd give her best to avoid it; still Willow knew that the Slayer might be left without a choice during a fight, well aware of Pat's strength and her fighting skills. She shuddered at the thought of her best friend killing her loved one, or the other way round, even though this was more unlikely to happen; after all, Buffy had gone up against demons a thousand times ever since she had become the Slayer, while Pat had strictly been after humans during her time as an assassin, only starting to fight supernatural beings when she had started dating the redhead and had began joining Buffy on patrol.

With a heavy sigh, the witch let herself fall on the couch and stared at the dark TV screen, not sure if she should switch it on so it might distract her – she knew that this wouldn't happen, that her mind would keep circling around what had happened no matter what she'd try to stop it. Still, she grabbed the remote after another minute and switched the TV on, more to push the silence aside than to really watch anything; she zapped through the channels for a while, then just stopped at one at random, looking at the images flickering over the screen without really seeing them.

Instead, her mind was focused on the countless hours she had spent on that couch, sometimes lying flat on her back and reading, but mostly snuggled up to Pat while they'd watch movies together; not that they usually noticed much of what was going on screen, too busy with each other most of the time to pay much attention on plots and characters. The thought that Pat remembered nothing of this anymore, that she had forgotten everything about her and about their relationship, made her feel as if someone was tearing her heart out and squeezing it in front of her eyes; fighting down the urge to cry again, knowing that it wouldn't do any good, she picked up one of the cushions and cuddled it to her chest, forcing herself to look at the TV once more, a sigh escaping her when she realized she had done so just in time to see the local news.

Unsurprisingly, there was a short report about the fire in the warehouse, showing pictures of the collapsed building; following that up, the anchorman informed the watching public that yet another headless body had been found, this time in the park close to the university campus, the head gone just like it had been the case with the unlucky night watchman.

Morbidly, Willow wondered to herself for what anyone would need so many heads, then shrugged it off and made herself focus on the news again; to her relief, no reports about people being found burned to crisps came up, but on the other hand, it was merely lunchtime, and thus there was still enough of the day left for Pat to… Quickly, Willow cut that thought off before it could emerge fully, shaking her head to herself in disbelief – here she was, knowing that her girlfriend had lost her memories, was probably confused about how she had ended up in this pleasant little town right on the Hellmouth, and the only thing she could think about was how long it might take for the demon to start killing people again.

On the other hand, she had to admit to herself that it wasn't all too unlikely that Pat might do just that – she was a demon after all, it was her role in this lovely universe to kill people, and the only reason she hadn't done so anymore – with one tiny exception, which didn't really count in the redhead's eyes – had been the fact that Willow and her love for the demon had stopped her from doing it, and even though she hated to admit it, the witch had no idea what exactly her loved one might be capable of, now that those restraints were gone.

With a heavy sigh, the witch changed the channel, suddenly not wanting to hear any more bad news, and usually, good news were scarce on TV; she went on zapping through the channels until she found something at least remotely interesting, forcing herself to focus on that, with one ear constantly listening for any sounds in the hallway which might indicate that her loved one was coming back to her, ignoring the little voice in the back of her mind which kept whispering to her that, if Pat indeed would come back, it wouldn't necessarily be the Pat she had known, and that the demon showing up here might have much more drastic consequences than she was allowing herself to think of right now.

* * *

Due to the fact that it was early afternoon and most of the regular patrons only got up – or out of their graves – after sundown, the bar was almost empty when Pat strolled into it, two demons sitting in one of the booths at the back of the rather small room, a third one at the bar, staring into his glass while he muttered unintelligible nonsense to himself. Ignoring him, Pat took one of the many free seats at the counter, getting out her pack of cigarettes afterwards and lighting one of them up while the barkeep turned towards her and asked her what he could get her; she muttered her order at him, then took a long drag of the cigarette, giving her best to ignore the pounding ache which still seemed to dominate most of her brain, making it hard to think clearly.

It dismayed her that she couldn't remember the hit she had taken to give her such a tremendous headache, but she was convinced that it had been the Slayer who had done this to her; the wound the annoying blonde had caused had healed when she had gone into her demonic form, but the headache was still there, something which annoyed the demon as much as the fact that the Slayer actually had knocked her out did.

Again, she thought of the things Buffy had said to her before she had knocked the blonde down and had taken off, the realization that she still wasn't in the best shape for a fight forcing her to retreat; shaking her head to herself, the demon immediately grasped the whiskey glass as the barkeeper put it down in front of her and took a gulp of the amber liquid, a sardonic smirk curling her lips as she remembered the Slayer's words to her.

Idly, she wondered if Buffy tried this trick often, with the whole "You lost your memories" crap; the demon found it hard to believe that this actually ever worked, the whole picture the Slayer had tried to convince her about just being too ridiculous for anyone with more brains than an average housefly to believe – but on the other hand, there were some remarkably dumb demons around, one of them apparently being the one who had sat at the bar when she had entered, since he by now had moved over to her, his clawed hand falling down on her shoulder heavily.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he snarled, his voice full of contempt; raising an eyebrow, Pat turned her head just wide enough so she could see his ugly fingers on her jacket, her voice a low growl as she replied. "None of your business, pal. And take your dirty fingers off my jacket."

"You have a lot to answer for", the demon spat at her in reply, his grip on her jacket tightening; before he could speak on though, she had gotten up from the bar stool and had turned to face him with one fluid movement, momentarily glad to see that, despite her pounding headache, her body control still was as good as it always had been, sharpened by the centuries she had been an assassin.

She just gave him a second to realize what was happening before she had grabbed him at the collar of his dirty shirt, making a note to herself that she'd wash her hands later, and had slammed him against the wall opposite to the counter; behind her, the barkeep cried out, some crap about how they shouldn't fight in here, but she ignored him, her glowing red gaze focused on the demon in her grip.

"I don't know what problem you have with me, and I don't care", she grumbled at the by now visibly scared demon, letting go of him with one hand – only to let said hand flare up, the demon's eyes immediately focusing on the flickering flames. "But if you don't get… the Hell… away from me now… I'll burn your eyes right out of your skull. Do we have an understanding?"

All he could do was nod, too scared to even speak up; he had been told that this was a dangerous one, especially when she had started working with the Slayer, but no words in the world had been able to prepare him for the raw brutality and that alarming inclination towards violence, her readiness to seriously hurt him practically coming off of her in waves, so strong that he could smell it.

From the corner of his eye, he could see how the two demons who had been occupying the booth at the back of the bar got up and hurriedly left through the back door; he felt absurdly disappointed, after all, they were of his kind, they should have protected him, knowing he wasn't much of a fighter… But on the other hand, they probably didn't have a death wish, either, and it was obvious that something was different about the Slayer's pet demon now, that there was a new readiness for evil within her which hadn't been there while she had been aiding the annoying Slayer.

"Fine", she now muttered, distracting him from how his mind was running wild, "get the fuck out of my face then… You're lucky the Slayer gave me a pounding headache, or I swear I'd burn you to a crisp!"

That was all he had needed to hear, and the moment she had let go of him, he had bolted out the door and was hurrying through the hidden side alleys, still making sure no stinky humans saw him as he rushed through town and to the cemetery, suddenly knowing exactly where he had to go to spread this exciting bit of news as fast as possible.


	7. Chapter 7

Three days had passed since the fire, and to the dismay of everyone, Buffy's worries about their ability to find the missing demon had turned out to be true – it was as if Pat had been swallowed by a hole in the earth, none of the ideas the group came up with helping with finding her.

With every hour that passed, Willow grew more and more anxious about her lover's disappearance; she still forced herself to go to her classes every day, but found it harder and harder to pay attention, her mind always drifting off to the demon and where she might be, if she was alright or if she'd maybe been hurt or even killed already. Despite Buffy's tries to make her move back into the dorm room with her, so she wouldn't be alone in the apartment – and possibly endangered, should the demon drop by there for a visit with her memories still gone – the redhead refused to do so, claiming that she had to be there in case Pat would wake up one day with all her memories back and would come back to the apartment, not wanting to imagine what the demon might think if she'd find it empty then.

When she had realized that Willow wouldn't give in and move back to the dorm, Buffy had announced that she'd stay at the apartment with the redhead then, not wanting to leave her alone during the night – after all, it was very possible that Pat would come to the apartment, only that in Buffy's envision of that event, she'd come to her to hurt or maybe even kill Willow, as a way to hurt the Slayer by harming her best friend, something which had been tried before and, at some unlucky times, even had worked out.

Of course, no matter if it had worked out or not, it had sent Buffy on a vengeful rampage each time, and she had taken care of whoever had been after her best friend; she knew that this was off-limits when it came to Pat though, not only because of Willow's love for the demon, but also due to her own liking for the black haired woman, something which would make it considerably harder to fight her. Since Giles had made it quite clear that, despite the situation about Pat, she couldn't just ignore her Slayer duties, she had more or less hired Xander to spend the nights at the apartment, so the redhead wouldn't be alone then either; to the relief of all of the gang, Willow didn't object to this arrangements, even though Anya did, claiming that if Xander would sleep there, she would too, and that she wouldn't be able to stand it to be away from him for a single night.

This romantic declaration from her, of all people, had stunned everyone else – only for a second though, then she had added that she'd miss the sex too much, a statement which was much less surprising, coming from her.

"I really hope Pat decides to come back soon", the ex-demon now complained, as she was helping Xander with preparing the couch for the third night they'd spend there. "It's annoying to come here every evening and we can't even have sex properly because I have to be quiet so Willow won't hear!"

In the kitchen, the redhead winced, wondering why Anya couldn't have been quiet now, as well; she silently vowed to herself to have that couch steam-cleaned as soon as all of this would over before she removed three soda cans from the fridge and returned to the living room with them, plastering a fake smile on her face so the ex-demon wouldn't notice she had heard her.

"There we go", she stated, handing out the sodas before they all sat down on the couch; as always, Xander had brought some movies along they could watch until it was time to sleep, a point in time which hadn't really been defined, since it was Friday night and none of them needed to get up early in the next morning.

"So with what should we start?" the young man now asked, holding up the movies he had brought so the two women could inspect them; as always, he had chosen horror and slasher movies only, and after some discussion, the trio finally settle for one of them, Willow and Anya making themselves comfortable on the couch while Xander started struggling with the DVD player, obviously not used to the model Pat had bought when she had moved in here.

Finally though, he won the fight against the evil electronic device, as he called his struggle, and joined the girls on the couch; it didn't take long until Anya and he were fully concentrated on the movie, with Xander enjoying the suspense while the ex-demon clearly was more intrigued by the bloodier parts.

Unlike the couple, Willow found nothing about the movie even remotely interesting; she just kept staring through the screen, her mind focused on the fate of her girlfriend and once again pondering where she might be, if she was fine, if she still hadn't regained her memories, what would happen if she never would…

She heard glass break, and for a second thought that Anya or Xander had been responsible for the noise; then, she remembered that she hadn't brought any glasses, they all were drinking their sodas right out of the can. She had another second to wonder what was going on; then, everything seemed to happen at once, a gust of cold wind came from the broken window behind them, Xander jumped up next to her and let out a startled noise, Anya was grabbing her and trying to pull her up from the couch, but she wouldn't move, mesmerized by the sight of Pat standing there, looking at her – and by the expression in her eyes, the normally so loving and warm blue gaze as cold and uncaring as she never had seen it before.

* * *

The instant Buffy opened the apartment door she knew that something was wrong; her heightened Slayer senses were on full alert, even would have been if she hadn't noticed immediately after stepping through the door that it was much colder than it should have been. Automatically, she tightened her grip on the bag in which she kept her stakes for patrol; there was just one left, since the night had been rather busy so far, but one sharpened stake might make the difference in any fight, no matter if it was between a vampire and her – or a demon and her, something which suddenly didn't seem unlikely to happen as she cautiously moved towards the door leading into the living room.

Forcing herself to keep calm, even though she already knew deep inside what had happened, the Slayer grasped the door handle; she took in a deep breath, then pushed it down and opened the door, her breath getting caught in her throat despite her tries to remain calm at the destruction which was presented to her disbelieving gaze. It was clear at the first look that a fight had happened in this room; both the couch table and the one next to the TV had been thrown over, the TV itself lay shattered on the ground, and the window had been broken, explaining why it was so cold.

Next to the couch, Anya was on the ground, face down, unmoving, the sight of her lifeless body speeding up Buffy's heart; still, she frantically scanned the room for Xander and Willow, spotting the young man lying close to the bedroom door moments later, having no such luck when it came to the witch though, no trace of the redhead anywhere. The heart of the Slayer started to hammer even harder in her chest as she realized why Xander probably had been trying to get to the bedroom before he had been struck down – in the wooden chest next to the bed there, Pat kept several weapons from her assassin days, just in case they'd be attacked some day.

That an attack had happened was out of question, and to Buffy's dismay, she had to admit that she already was quite sure who exactly had been that attacker; pushing those thoughts aside for now though, she hurried over to where Anya laid, tenderly turning the ex-demon on her back and checking her for wounds, relieved to see that, even though she had been knocked out, she apparently hadn't been hurt too badly, the only wound Buffy could spot being a gash on her forehead.

As soon as she had convinced herself that Anya wasn't dead – and wouldn't die within the next five minutes – the blonde hurried on to Xander; just when she knelt down next to him, he groaned, his eyes slowly opening, appearing dazed, but managing to focus on the Slayer a few seconds later. "Buffy", he croaked, groaning again when in response, she grasped him beneath the arms and helped him to his feet, "I'm sorry… We messed up…"

"What happened?" the Slayer demanded to know in reply, throwing him a concerned look as she led him over to the couch – even though she so far hadn't detected any wounds on him, he was rather unsteady on his feet, swaying from left to right and forcing her to grasp him rather firmly until she could let him fall on the couch.

While she waited for him to speak on, she moved to check on Anya again, the fact that the ex-demon still was out cold worrying her; moments later, she froze in mid-movement though as Xander answered her, confirming that her worst fears about this attack had been true. "Pat's come here… She still doesn't know, doesn't remember… And she's got Willow…"


	8. Chapter 8

For the last hour, she had just been sitting there, looking at her, sometimes smoking, from time to time shifting on the chair slightly, but not saying a word, only staring at her with that unnerving cold gaze. Giving her best not to let her dismay and fear show, Willow shifted slightly on the dirty mattress she sat on; she had no idea where she was, thanks to the fact that she had been unconscious when she had been dragged here – wherever that "here" was – but she knew that it wasn't a place where she wanted to stay just another minute longer, especially not as long as her girlfriend clearly had no idea what had been between them, but only saw her as the bait she'd use to lure the Slayer into her trap.

Even though the was awfully scared of the demon, something she never would have thought she'd feel, not of Pat, she kept holding the taller woman's gaze, desperately searching for something in those blue eyes which would show her that the love they had shared was still there, only to find herself looking at that cold and uncaring gaze she never had seen from Pat from before.

"Listen", she finally spoke up, after an hour of just looking back at the black haired woman, "I don't know what you think is going on here, or what you're planning to do, but… You probably don't remember, no wait of course you don't or you wouldn't have knocked me out and dragged me down here to chain me up against that cold wall, but you got hit on the head when you were helping Buffy with something, out at that warehouse, and…"

She had noticed that she had gone into babble mode again, and that Pat's face had grown more and more irritated with every second that had gone on; still it surprised her when the demon finally interrupted her, the interruption not as shocking as the tone of her voice and her choice of words were. "Shut the fuck up."

Stunned into silence, all Willow could was stare at her – of course this wasn't the first time she had heard Pat use such words, but she never had spoken to her like that, neither with that tone in her voice, nor with such a choice of words. Only once, the demon had talked that way to a member of the gang, snarling curses at Buffy when Willow had been lightly injured during a not so smoothly gone patrol; back then, she had been highly upset though, and had apologized right afterwards, never again using such words against her friends afterwards, and not once with her, never with her.

Before she found her voice again, the sound of shuffling footsteps approached the door leading into the dingy room where she had been chained up during while she had been out cold; a hesitating knock came from the door, causing Pat to look away from her and at said door, still not sounding all too friendly when she spoke up again. "Yeah, what?"

The door opened, and a rather intimated looking demon poked his head in; he cleared his throat before he entered the room fully, even shuffling his feet as he obviously tried to collect the courage to speak, finally managing to do so, with an audible stutter in his voice, his overall behaviour only increasing Willow's fear – if even her own kind was afraid of Pat, who knew what she might be capable of doing to humans now?

"The other guys were wondering what you'd been doing in here", the scared demon now started to talk, his gaze flickering through the room and focusing on everything but on Pat, making his fear of her even more obvious. "They think you're… uh… you know… with the girl, and it pisses them off because you said no one's to touch her… that way."

"Does it look as if I'm doing that with her, dumbass?" Pat snarled in reply, her voice and the look she gave the other demon enough to make him wince; quickly, he shook his head, a nervous smile appearing on his face, thanks to his crooked and brown teeth not helping to make him look more appealing though. "No, of course not, sorry, I apologize… But, well, the guys also wanna know if you really won't let them… well, you know…"

"No", she cut him off, before he could talk himself into getting a nosebleed from embarrassment, "as I told you when I brought her here, she's bait. You don't play around with bait, you use it and when it did its job, you get rid of it. End of story."

"Okay", the other demon hurried to agree, "I'll tell the guys then, I'm sure they'll understand…"

Without waiting for Pat's reply, he turned around and hurried back outside, closing the door behind himself; amused, the black haired woman looked after him, then lit up a cigarette and made herself comfortable in her chair again, her gaze focusing on Willow once more, the redhead swallowing heavily as she asked herself how long she would have to stay here – and what would happen to her if her loved one didn't regain her memories soon.

* * *

At the same time, the gang sat in the still rather messed up looking living room of Pat and Willow's apartment, giving their best to not let what had happened discourage them, an air of concern and dismay around all of them though as they talked the night's events through, trying to figure out what to do now and how to find the redhead.

"If she'd wanted to kill Willow, she could have done so easily, right here", Giles pointed out when Xander voiced worries about Pat doing just that. "It wouldn't make sense to drag her off. I'm afraid she has a certain use for her in mind…"

"Bait", Buffy replied before anyone else had the chance to say anything. "She'll use her as bait… To lure me in some trap."

"Most likely", the Watcher had to agree, his voice and face serious; Buffy held his gaze for a few moments, then looked at Xander and Anya, her voice just as solemn as Giles' had been when she spoke up again. "I'm quite sure Pat'll contact us sooner or later, to tell us where to meet her so we'll get Willow back. I don't know though whom of us she'll contact, or how dangerous she might be in her current state, so be on your guard."

"What about Willow?" Anya demanded to know in reply, demonstrating slightly surprising concern for the witch – after all, the two never had really grown as close as Willow was to Buffy or to Xander, the redhead often unable to properly handle the bluntness of the ex-demon. "You really just want to sit around and wait for her now evil girlfriend to show up and tell us where she is? What if she hurts her?"

"There's not much use in searching the town for her on random", Buffy gave back, hating to admit that she had no idea where to start looking and that there wasn't much else she could do than wait for the demon to make the first step. "And… I don't think Pat will do anything to Willow… She's after me, not her, right now, Willow's just a tool to her she'll use to get to me…"

"Let's hope you're right", Xander muttered, perking up a second later as a thought hit him, new concern in his voice when he continued. "And what will you do once she does contact you, and tells you where to meet her? Do you think you'll be able to fight her?"

"Fight her, yes", the Slayer immediately responded, to the rather obvious relief of Giles, "kill her, no… First, because Willow would kill me afterwards, second, it's not really her fault and third, well… She's my friend."

To the last words, the rest nodded their agreement, now with grave looks on their face; it was Giles who spoke up again after a few seconds of thoughtful silence, and his words didn't really surprise Buffy, even though she briefly felt rage at him for saying out loud what everybody else had been thinking and thus, somehow, making it more real. "You are aware of the fact though that maybe, you won't be given a choice, right? You may have to kill her, to safe Willow and yourself…"

"I know", the Slayer gave back after a moment of silence, "but I won't do it if there's just the tiniest chance it can be avoided."

"Maybe you should just try to knock her on the head as hard as possible", Anya tried to be helpful, giving the blonde a toothy smile which probably was supposed to cheer her up, "that might bring back her memories!"

"At least that's how it works in movies and in soap operas", Xander came to his girlfriend's aid when he saw the doubtful expression on Buffy's face; when she rose an eyebrow at him, he quickly cleared his throat and spoke on, his words taking some of the tension in the room away. "Not that I watch soap operas, mind you. Anya told me that."

"Sure", the Slayer gave back sarcastically, making the young man clear his throat in embarrassment; she took a moment to smile at him, then rose from her seat, signalling clearly that the meeting was over.

"We all should get some rest", she stated, "it's been a rough night… Especially for the two of you. How're your heads doing?"

"Fine", Xander and Anya reassured her in perfect unison, making her smile again; she nodded, then let the rest know that they could clean up the mess in the next day, making them get up from their seats as well, Buffy once more warning them to be careful before they all left the apartment and headed to their homes, their thoughts filled with worry about Willow and circling around the question if she was alright.


	9. Chapter 9

When she was woken up rather roughly in the next morning, Willow didn't even know when exactly she had fallen asleep; blinking, she was confused for a moment as she couldn't figure out where she was – before she felt the lumpy mattress beneath her and the cold chain around her right wrist, keeping her secured to the wall behind her, the memories rushing back at her, a startled cry escaping her as her gaze fell on the demonic face in front of her, the gruesome sight making her feel fully awake within a second.

"Breakfast", the demon told her, pointing at a paper bag and, surprisingly, a paper cup of coffee on the ground next to the mattress; for a moment, the witch wondered to herself if the stuff maybe was poisoned, then decided it probably was safe to eat and drink – after all, Pat had been rather clear on how she wanted her prisoner to be treated, and since she clearly didn't plan to let her go anytime soon, it was just logical that she'd be fed.

"Thanks", she made herself say, the demon just giving her an irritated look before he got up and left her alone, closing the door behind himself; for a moment, she was surprised that they'd leave her alone, without a guard, then she realized why – even if she'd be able to use her magic to free herself from the chain, she had no idea how many demons were waiting outside, and with that lack of knowledge, it might be suicidal to get rid of the chain and go out there.

With a small sigh, she realized that, even if Pat only had two or three demons out there with her, it'd be of no use to attack them – even if she'd be able to get rid of them with the aid of her magic, she'd never be able to harm her loved one, not even now, when her girlfriend couldn't remember the special bond between them anymore and treated her just like she might have treated any other hostage during her time as an assassin. Rather listlessly, she picked up the paper bag and opened it, slightly surprised to find two donuts inside it; telling herself that she'd need the energy, she made herself eat them both, even though she wasn't very hungry, washing the food down with long sips of the hot, sweet coffee.

The moment she had finished, the door opened again and Pat stepped into the room, making the witch wonder briefly if they were watching her somehow; before she could ponder this further, the black haired woman had let herself fall into the chair she had used the night before and had pulled out her pack of cigarettes, lighting one of them up before she surprised the redhead again, this time by holding the pack out to her. "Smoke?"

"No", Willow declined, giving her best not to let her surprise about this unexpected friendly gesture show, "I don't smoke. You know that."

"No I don't", the demon replied, to the witch's dismay, "I don't know you."

"Yes you do!" Willow almost snapped in reply, suddenly unable to hold her feelings about all of this back, about how unfair it was that all of this had happened, about the fact that somehow, she just couldn't be happy with her loved one, that there always had to be _something_ to ruin their happiness, bright anger all at once filling her soul.

"You do know me", she went on, staring at Pat with such fierceness that the demon had to admit to herself it was impressive and rather bold. "You have no idea how well you know me at the moment, but you do… We've been together for one and a half years! You told me once you'd always love me, you told me I'm your life…"

Just for a second, the expression in the demon's eyes changed as she heard that, so short that Willow wasn't even sure if she'd really seen it or if it had been wishful thinking; then, Pat shook her head as if to clear it, sounding as indifferent as before when she replied. "So you're in on the game the Slayer's trying to play, huh? Good to know."

"This is not a game!" the redhead gave back, now sounding desperate, her mind running wild as she tried to figure out how to make the demon realize that she was telling the truth. "Please, just listen to me… We've been living together for the last six months! You've always been so protective of me, you've beaten people up for just looking at me in the wrong way… Until I made you stop because that was too violent, but that's not the point."

"Shut up", the demon muttered in reply, her free hand coming up to rub at her temple in an unconscious gesture, the heart of the redhead beating faster at the sight as she suddenly was sure that Pat was close to remembering.

"You snapped out of insanity, for me, to rescue me", she pressed on, saying the first thing which came to her mind. "I thought I'd lost you forever back then, that you'd just stay that way, blabbering out lyrics of those songs you're always listening to, but you came back to me…"

"Shut up!" Pat repeated in response, a bit louder and with more force in her voice this time; unimpressed, Willow held her gaze the best she could as she continued, not willing to stop now, not when it felt as if she was this close to making her come back to her once more.

"You promised you'd never hurt me", she went on, her anger now fully gone, her voice as caring and tender as it always had been when she had spoken to her girlfriend about such things. "And you loved me… Just as I loved you… I still do, if you'd just remember…"

"I said _shut up!" _the demon suddenly bellowed in response, jumping up from her seat and rushing over to where Willow was sitting so fast that it startled the redhead, dropping her cigarette on the way so she could grab the witch's collar, clenching her other hand into a fist and pulling it back – where it froze, trembling lightly, Willow forcing herself to hold her gaze, mentally preparing herself for the very real possibility that she might end up getting punched anyway. For a few more seconds, Pat just kept staring at her, her fist hanging in the air; then, she dropped it and let go of the witch, taking in a deep breath while she turned away from her, both hands moving to her temples this time to massage them soothingly.

Trying to sort her racing thoughts, Willow racked her mind as she tried to figure out what to say next; before she could come up with anything though, the demon strode out of the room without looking at her once more, slamming the door close behind herself, leaving the witch behind alone, something she didn't mind much at this moment though, a small smile curling her lips as she thought about how close Pat had been to hitting her – and that, in the end, she hadn't done it, giving her back some of her hope that maybe, everything would be out alright after all.

* * *

All the unlucky barkeeper could do when the door of his tavern was kicked open so forcefully it nearly got torn out of the hinges was stare, asking himself why he ever had accepted demons as his regular customers – sure, they brought money, just like humans did, and were much more loyal since this was the only bar where they were allowed, but they also fought a lot – and now they had brought the Slayer here, something that he always had feared would happen sooner or later. Ignoring the few demons in the bar, Buffy strode over to the counter, as casually as if she belonged here; behind her, a young guy was following, appearing nervous as he looked around and saw the few guests the bar had, the demons holding his gaze with indifference, none of them obviously too keen on picking someone who had come here in the company of the Slayer.

"W-what can I get you?" he asked as soon as she had reached the counter and had leaned on it, giving him a sweet, but still dangerous smile; when she replied, he nearly let out a sigh of relief, giving his best not to let those emotions show on his face.

"Information", Buffy stated, reaching into her pocket and bringing out a photo, placing it on the counter and pushing it towards him so he could look at it. "Has this woman been around here lately? And don't try to lie to me, I'll know if you do."

Gulping, he nodded, then made himself focus on the photo; immediately, he recognized one of the two women on the picture as the one who had been here several days ago and nearly had beat up one of his regulars, relief clearly showing on his face now as he looked up at Buffy again. "I recognize that one", he truthfully told her, tapping the photo, "she was here a few days ago, nearly got into a brawl with one of my regular guests. Haven't seen the redhead before though."

To his surprise, the Slayer nodded in response, as if she had expected that; at her next question, his eyes briefly went wide, and he shook his head immediately the second she had stopped speaking. "Do you have any idea where she went?"

"No, of course not", he claimed, hoping she'd believe him and wouldn't start beating him up, "I'm just a barkeeper, mind you… She didn't even talk much to me."

In response, Buffy just kept staring him for a while, until he had started to shuffle his feet nervously; to his relief though, she obviously decided to believe him, giving him another one of this dangerous, sweet smiles before she picked up the photo and put it back into her pocket, leaned closer to him, keeping her voice low so the demons in the bar wouldn't hear what she was saying to him. "I know that your demon regulars kicked out an… acquaintance of mine, for helping me several times in the past. His name's Spike, I'm sure you've heard of him?"

He nodded in reply, not sure where this was leading; moments later, he found out as the Slayer spoke on, the barkeeper's dismay about her words clearly showing on his round, sweaty face. "He'll come back here from now on, looking for my friend, and you'll make sure that your other guests won't bother him. As long as this works out, I won't come back here at night, when the place is full, and burn it to the ground. Alright?"

"A-alright", he stuttered in reply; still smiling, Buffy reached out with one hand and patted his cheek, then turned and left the bar with her quiet buddy, a relieved sigh escaping the barkeeper the moment she was gone.


	10. Chapter 10

"I have to admit that this was a good idea after all", Xander stated as soon as they had left the dingy bar again, making Buffy nod next to him; it had been Spike who had suggested that they should check out the bar and ask if Pat had been seen there, also giving them the idea to make sure he'd be allowed around there again so he could keep his eyes open for the demon and follow her, in case she'd come there again.

Even though it had sounded like a good plan back then, and still did, Buffy didn't allow herself to get her hopes up too high – after all, the chances of the demon returning to the bar seemed rather unlikely, after what the barkeeper had said, and even if she would be there at the same time as Spike, it still wouldn't make sure that she'd go back to wherever she was keeping Willow afterwards – or that she wouldn't notice the vampire following her, the thought of how dangerous this might be for Spike making Buffy grimace to herself.

"It was", she now agreed with her friend, a sigh escaping her afterwards, "but it's still no more than clutching at straws… Or just fibres of straws. It was a good idea, but that doesn't guarantee it will work out…"

She sighed again, her facial expression darkening as she thought of Willow and what might be happening to her right in this moment; she had meant it when she had said that she didn't believe Pat would hurt her hostage, but this didn't help her to keep unpleasant images of her best friend being hurt and tortured out of her mind.

"I know", Xander sighed as well beside her, giving her a glum look afterwards. "I just hope Willow's alright… I know it's not really Pat's fault and everything, but I swear, if she did something to her…"

"Everything will be fine", Buffy cut him off before he could voice any threats, making him nod hesitatingly after a moment; she gave him a hopefully calming smile, then both fell silent, just walking back to the Magic Box next to each other, their minds focused on the redhead and on the dismaying fact that for now, all they could do was wait.

* * *

During the last hour, Willow had kept herself busy by floating the empty paper cup around the room, making it fly loops and turn in circles, an activity which wasn't exactly hard for her to do with her current level of power, but it still was better than just sitting there and staring at the wall.

Through the closed door, she could hear the muffled voices of the other demons who were here with Pat, sounding as if they were having some sort of argument; if Pat was part of it as well, she was talking too softly to be heard through the door, the thick wood also keeping the witch from hearing what exactly their discussion was about, to her great dismay – it might have been interesting after all, and most likely would have been more intriguing than just floating an empty cup around.

When one of the arguing voices grew louder, approaching the door as it did so, she quickly lowered the cup on the ground though; she was quite sure that Pat and her demonic buddies knew that she was a witch, but there was no need to make it so obvious to them.

"…sick of just sitting around here and waiting! This plan sucks, but if we have to follow it, I at least want to have a little bit of fun until then", she now finally was able to make out the words of the demon approaching the door; since the demons who had been arguing with him had stayed behind, she couldn't tell what they were replying, but whatever it had been, it obviously hadn't stopped the one who was eager to join her, the door openings moments later, the demon looking at her with a malicious glint in his eyes.

Just like Pat, he had a human form which he was using right now, not looking all too handsome that way either though; he stepped into the room and closed the door behind himself, then moved over to where Willow sat, leering at her, the sight making her heart beat faster as she realized all at once what kind of fun he had been talking about. "You must be lonely in here", he stated, moving closer to her and crouching down in front of her; unimpressed, Willow held his gaze, her voice steady when she replied. "Not so lonely that I'd want your company. Before you say anything else, or try anything stupid, let me warn you – I'm a powerful witch, and you're a demon, so I won't be afraid to use my powers against you."

"I'm sooo scared", he chuckled in reply, obviously not taking her seriously, making her wonder if none of them actually knew that she was a witch, and only saw her as the Slayer's best friend, the perfect bait; before she could ponder this further though, the demon in front of her had reached out and groped at her chest, her eyes widening briefly – before she brought up her hand and snapped a single Latin word, the force of her spell throwing the demon back a few feet and making him land on the ground with a low thud.

"Bitch!" he shouted as he came to his feet again, his body and face morphing into his much more gruesome demonic form; clenching his now much bigger fists, he approached her again, his voice a low growl as he spoke on. "I just wanted to have a little fun, but now I'll have to hurt you… and it'll be your own fault…"

In response, Willow threw another spell at him, one which caused a thick vine to grow out of the ground and wrap around his legs, tying him in place; he let out another low growl, then started tearing at the vine, the door opening behind him again before he had a chance to free himself, relief filling the redhead when she saw Pat enter the room – even though so far, she had been in control of the situation, she wasn't sure how much longer she would have been able to use such powerful magic without tiring herself out. Obviously, her girlfriend hadn't been expecting the scene in front of her, since she stopped in mid-movement, looking surprised; then, she rose an eyebrow and approached her demon companion, throwing an interested look at the vine which was binding him to the ground.

"Nice", she stated after a few moments, turning to look at the witch, Willow giving her best to hold her cold gaze and to not let it show how much it unnerved her that Pat was looking at her like that, "did you do this? I'm sure you'll have a good reason for attacking one of my men…"

Even though her voice sounded pleasant enough when she said those words, Willow knew her well enough by now to hear the unspoken thread – if she wouldn't be able to give a reason Pat would accept as good enough, she might be the one who'd end up in trouble, not her demon henchman who had started it.

"Your man here tried to molest me", she thus let her loved one know, remembering what Pat had said to that other demon right after she had been taken here, about how no one was allowed to touch or to harm her. "You'll surely understand I had to defend myself…"

"Is this true?" Pat demanded to know from her henchman in reply, turning again to look at him; sullenly, he held her gaze, obviously not smart enough to lie, his voice defiant when he replied. "It is, but don't fret about it, jeez… I just wanted to have a little fun! You just expect us to sit around here until you decide it's time to tell the Slayer we got her little friend here, that's silly and boring, that's not how demons are supposed to do such things anyway…"

"That's my way of doing it", Pat replied, unimpressed by his snotty tone of voice, "and if I remember correctly, you agreed to doing it my way when you joined me… I assume you changed your mind then?"

Bravely, he held her gaze and nodded; moments later, he realized that this probably had been a mistake as a sardonic smirk curled Pat's lips – before her hand shot out, Willow involuntarily letting out a shriek as her girlfriend rammed her fist right inside the demon's chest, a chocked gurgle coming from him in response, his eyes going wide.

For a second, Pat just kept looking at him, blood dripping from the hole in his chest her fist still was stuck in; then, she jerked her hand back, tearing his heart out in the process, the demon letting out as shriek before he exploded into a cloud of dust, the organ Pat still was grasping doing the same, making her dust her hands off casually, her face as cold and indifferent as it had been before she had killed her henchman.


	11. Chapter 11

Shocked, all Willow could do was stare at her, unable to cope with the violent scene she just had witnessed – she always had known about her girlfriend's demonic nature, about the things she had done before they had met, but she never had imagined any of it happening with such brutality, fear filling her despite her tries to keep the emotion down as she kept gawking at her loved one.

"I apologize for that", Pat now stated, sounding as calm as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, as if she just hadn't ripped out a demon's heart in front of the witch's eyes, turning to look at her again. "I thought I had made it quite clear to my men that I won't tolerate such behaviour, but it seems that this one didn't quite understand that."

Not sure what she should reply to that, Willow just nodded in reply; Pat gave her another one of those sardonic smirks, then moved to sit down in the chair she always had been using so far, taking the time to light up a cigarette before she focused on the witch again.

"I can assure you that something like that won't happen again", she stated, momentarily surprising Willow with how absurdly polite she sounded – before she returned to a speech pattern the witch was much more familiar with. "The others will be too scared to do anything similar to what that shithead just tried after how I've dealt with him, and you won't be staying here much longer. Tomorrow night, I'll send someone to the Slayer to inform her about your… peculiar situation."

In response, the witch just nodded again, fresh fear gripping her heart – not of the demon this time, but of what might happen if Buffy really would come here, if the Slayer and her loved one would end up in a fight, the mental image of Buffy and Pat battling each other nearly making Willow grimace.

"Don't worry", the demon now went on, obviously reading some of her feelings on her face, but interpreting them horribly wrong, "once I killed the Slayer, you're of no value to me anymore… I guess I'll just let you go then."

"I'm not afraid of that", Willow gave back, despite her fear and dismay once more seeing an opportunity to try to convince Pat of the past they had shared, "I'm afraid of seeing the woman I love getting hurt…"

"Singing that song again, huh", the demon gave back, clearly unimpressed, a smirk curling her lips again as she took another drag of her cigarette. "Give it up, witch", she then went on, after blowing a cloud of blue smoke towards the low ceiling, "I won't fall for any of that crap… Save your breath."

"Why do you think I'm not using my powers against you to get out of here?" Willow demanded to know in reply, a question that obviously caught Pat off-guard, since she just stared at her in response, clearly trying to find an answer.

"I could easily break that chain, and throw you against the next wall hard enough to smash all your bones", the redhead continued, holding Pat's gaze to make sure the demon would see she wasn't kidding or exaggerating. "But I'd never do this… I'd never hurt you. Just as you promised me once you'd never hurt me, and you kept that promise… Even now…"

"I knocked you out when I kidnapped you", Pat pointed out in reply, making the witch nod after a moment of thinking about it, a smile appearing on her face again afterwards though. "You did, but when you wanted to punch me before, you didn't do it. Or maybe you couldn't do it? Did you think about that? Did you come up with a reason for that?"

In response, the demon just kept looking at her for a while – before she got up from her seat and moved closer to her, crouching in front of her until she was on eyelevel with her, sounding slightly surprised when she finally spoke up. "You really are serious about this, aren't you? This isn't just some kind of game you're playing. You mean all that stuff."

"Of course I do", Willow reassured her, asking herself where this was leading now – and if she'd notice in time in case she'd be pushing her luck again, not wanting to make Pat as angry as she had been earlier once more.

"But that's ridiculous", the demon finally stated, after pondering this for a while, giving the witch a disbelieving look. "I'm a demon", she went on, stating the obvious, "demons don't… do that."

"Don't do what?" Willow challenged, grasping this new opportunity to make Pat remember eagerly. "Fall in love?" she went on, before the demon had a chance to reply. "That's what you thought back then, too, when it happened to you. You even thought I'd put a spell on you to make you fall in love with me… And you didn't know how to handle it, but I helped you, we worked it out, and we became a couple…"

Before Pat had the chance to reply anything, the door behind her opened and one of the demons poked his head in; he looked around briefly, obviously trying to spot his deceased companion, gulping visibly when he realized that there was no sign of his buddy, his voice trembling slightly when he finally spoke up. "Um, sorry to interrupt… whatever you were doing… but the guys and me thought about going to the bar and I wanted to ask if that's okay for you…?"

"Yeah, fine, fine, go", Pat gave back absent-mindedly, waving her hand at him as if to make him disappear again faster, not even bothering to look at him; still he gave her a – rather ugly – toothy smile before he stepped back outside and closed the door again, the black haired woman keeping her gaze focused on Willow the whole time, the witch returning it bravely, telling herself that maybe, if Pat would just listen to her, her memories would come back before any fighting would happen, something she wanted more than anything else in this world right now.

* * *

As if the fact that Pat had lost her memories and had kidnapped Willow wouldn't have been enough to keep Buffy busy, Giles had decided that, despite the dire situation of her best friend and the demon, the Slayer still had to investigate the fact that by now, three people had been beheaded; the fact that this had been going on after the failed attempt to kill Buffy at that warehouse had made it clear to them that someone was explicitly after those heads, and probably had tried to get the Slayer out of the way after the first murder had been discovered.

Since for now, all they could do about the unpleasant situation with Pat and Willow as wait until either Spike spotted the demon at the bar and managed to follow her undetected or until she'd contact the Slayer and tell her where to meet her, the Watcher had figured it wouldn't be wise to waste time with sitting around and had sent her to find out as much as possible about those beheadings, something Buffy didn't feel like doing at all as long as she didn't know if Willow was fine or not, but she had to admit that Giles had made a point.

Still she wasn't sure if there was any sense in patrolling the cemetery, as she did every night – after all, she doubted that a regular vampire was behind this, and she just couldn't see anyone storing heads at the cemetery – the bad smells would have been enough to attract some unwanted attention, from regular people as well as the Slayer, but so far, no other leads about the one who was so obsessed about other people's heads had come up, and Buffy figured that the cemetery was as good as any other place to start searching.

It had been a while since she had gone on patrol alone, she noticed while she wandered over the graveyard, all senses alert as she waited for the firs vampire of the night to jump her; during the last months, someone always had come along with her, that someone usually being Pat, the Slayer now becoming painfully aware of the demon's absence as she walked the cemetery alone, all at once missing the smell of cigarette smoke which always seemed to accompany the taller woman and the – more or less funny – quips she'd make every now and then.

Sighing to herself, Buffy forced herself to focus on her surroundings again, knowing it wouldn't do her any good to let herself get distracted; it didn't take long until she heard footsteps come up behind her, her hand automatically moving to the stake she kept hidden in the inside pocket of her jacket and pulling it out, the Slayer giving her best not to tense up when she heard the footsteps approach her. As always, she waited until the vampire was so close to her that she would have been able to hear him breathe, had he been breathing; when she could be sure he was only inches away, she spun around, her fist meeting his face with painfully good aim and sending him a few steps back, the surprised expression on her face nearly making the Slayer smirk.

Growling lowly, the vampire recovered quickly from the hit she had given him and charged at her; she blocked his rather clumsy punches easily, then sent him backwards again with a high kick aimed at his chest, bringing up the stake afterwards and throwing it, the eyes of the vampire briefly going wide as it hit home – before he vaporized into a cloud of dust, the stake falling to the grass moments later.

"Aw, that was cheap", a well-known voice came from the shadows behind her, by now not startling her anymore; not bothering to pick up the stake, Buffy turned around and faced Spike, the vampire giving her his trademark smirk before he spoke on, throwing a pointed look at the stake lying in the grass. "I was expecting a much better fight."

"Pay me the next time, then", Buffy shot back, immediately moving on to business with her next question, making it clear to Spike that she wasn't in the mood for any of his banter. "Did you find me here to tell me anything of any importance, or are you just your usual annoying self?"

"How harsh", the vampire sighed out in reply, "you hurt me so, my dearest Slayer… In fact, I do have some facts for you which might be important, but you ought to know the drill by now. Money first, facts later."

"It's the other way round", Buffy gave back, smiling sweetly at him afterwards. "We could also make it beating first, facts howled out in pain later, if you like."

"Always so violent", Spike sighed theatrically, smirking at her again afterwards, to her slight relief growing serious as well moments later though, all playfulness gone from his voice as he continued speaking. "Well, in fact, as I said, I do have some interesting facts for you. Seems as if Red's girlfriend is… let's say, she's established herself pretty well in the local community."

To the Slayer's annoyance, he took the time to find his cigarettes and light one of them up – briefly and absurdly making her wonder if all demons and vampires smoked, since they weren't in any danger of getting lung cancer – before he continued, stunning Buffy with the hint of admiration she could hear in his normally either cold or sarcastic voice. "She's apparently scared some of them into working for her, don't ask me how many, but three of those bloody cowards were at the bar, talking about her. Lucky for me, I was close enough to hear them talk, and well, it might relieve you to know she's taking good care of your little witch friend."

"Details", Buffy demanded to know in reply, giving her best not to let said relief show, knowing that Spike immediately would tease her about it, not feeling like putting up with this right now.

"Well", the vampire smirked, taking another drag of his cigarette before he continued, "from what I could hear, there used to be at least four of them, but one of them found an unfortunate ending when your little pet demon ripped his heart out… For trying to molest Red. Seems as if it was his own sodding fault, but if I were her, I'd refrain from doing that in the future, it might affect the morale of her other… pets."

"Do you know where their hideout is?" Buffy demanded to know in reply, ignoring his remark about the possible morality loss of Pat's henchmen; giving her another smirk, Spike nodded, holding his hand out afterwards, the smirk on his face and the sound of his voice irritating her much more than usual when he answered. "I do, but I'll only tell you after you paid me."

"Fine", she grumbled after a moment, pulling out the wad of cash Giles had provided her with in case this would happen and handing it to the vampire; the blink of an eye later, it had disappeared into his pocket, the triumphant smirk still on his face as he told her where to find Willow and Pat, the Slayer memorizing the location before she hurried off, ignoring it when he called a rather immoral offer after her, leaving him standing there, the vampire looking after her until she was out of sight, smirking to himself as he wondered if he should go to that hideout as well – things might, after all, get _really_ interesting there pretty soon when Buffy would confront her former pet demon, and he was sure that this would be something he wouldn't want to miss.


	12. Chapter 12

For the last two hours, Pat had been sitting on the ground in front of Willow, listening to her as she talked about what had been between them before that stupid beam had hit her on the head and had caused the loss of those memories; not once, the demon had interrupted the redhead, but just had listened with obvious, growing surprise as Willow spoke of the last eighteen months, recounting every little detail she could remember, telling her of the things they had faced together so far and the victories they had won against the forces of darkness.

Finally, she fell silent, ending her tale with how she had watched Pat go the night this horrible thing had happened to her, not failing to mention the dark sense of foreboding which had come over her that night; stunned into silence, all the demon did was look at her, a cigarette she had lit up a while ago forgotten between her fingers, smouldering away as her gaze was fixed on the witch.

"Wow", she finally brought out, sounding as stunned as she was looking, Willow giving her a smile in response, glad that the demon hadn't gotten angry at her again while she had been talking. "That's… Well…" Obviously at a loss for words, Pat cleared her throat, then seemed to remember her cigarette since she brought it up to her lips and took the a drag of it, putting it out afterwards and immediately lighting up a new one.

"You know, when the Slayer started about all this, I was determined not to believe her, even though I have to admit that there is a rather unsettling gap in my memory", she finally recollected her thoughts enough to be able to form coherent sentences. "But… All that stuff you just told me… It's too, well, I guess detailed is the right word… to be just made up… and I have to say that some of the things you claimed I said do sound like me. Especially the cursing. And of course, everything will be fine…" "…and dandy", Willow finished with her, giving her another smile afterwards, trying her best to ignore the fact for now that so far, Pat maybe believed her now, but still didn't actually remember.

"I'm not letting you say that anymore though", the witch added, distracting herself from that unpleasant truth, "because something bad always happens when you do."

"Oh", the demon gave back, not all too smart, but apparently not knowing what else to say; she fell silent again, looking at the witch with an unreadable expression in her eyes while she smoked silently, the redhead once more holding her gaze, hoping that the taller woman would be able to read her honesty about what she just had told her in her eyes.

For a few more seconds, they just sat there, looking at each other; then, just as Willow wanted to speak up, a shout was heard through the wooden door, followed by sounds they both immediately identified as fighting, Pat's gaze darkening while she came to her feet immediately, throwing her cigarette on the ground and stomping on it, the heart of the redhead starting to beat faster as she realized what was going on.

_Buffy's here… She found out where she's keeping me, and now she's here to rescue me! _She knew that she was supposed to be happy about this, but couldn't find it within herself – even though deep inside, she was aware of the fact that it was foolish, but still she was sure that she had been close to make Pat remember, something which probably wouldn't happen anytime soon with a fight coming up.

"Please don't!" she cried out when her loved one's fists flamed up, her eyes similarly changing from their usual blue colour to bright red; moments later, the door was broken rather forcefully as one of her demon thugs got thrown against it hard enough to break it, Buffy appearing in the opening she had created moments later, relief briefly showing on her face when she saw that Willow was apparently unharmed.

"You ought to hire better fighters the next time", she stated, bringing up her right hand; for a horrible moment, the redhead thought that she had brought a regular gun and just would shoot the demon, something the Slayer never had done before. A second later, she recognized the weapon in Buffy's hand, relief filling her – it was the tranquilizer gun they always had kept at hand when she still had been with Oz and it had been his wolf days, a weapon she hadn't seen since then and automatically had assumed that Buffy had gotten rid of it after the relationship between the werewolf and her had ended.

It seemed that Pat recognized the weapon as well, since her eyes briefly widened; before she could even try to get out of the way though, the Slayer had pulled the trigger, the small tranquilizer dart shooting out of the barrel and hitting the demon in the neck, an angered growl coming from her in response.

Holding her breath, Willow watched how Pat pulled the arrow out and threw it on the ground, stepping on it as she started moving closer to Buffy; just a second later though, her legs started to tremble visibly, the flames engulfing her fists growing weaker, then vanished into nothingness, a low groan coming from the demon before she collapsed to the ground where she remained motionless, Willow letting out the breath she had been holding while Buffy rushed over to her, kneeling down next to her and asking her if she was alright, the witch nodding in reply, her gaze fixed on her girlfriend, her mind running wild as she tried to figure out what to do next and how to fix all of this.

* * *

"You know, that was quite a good idea", Willow stated a short time later, watching how Buffy fastened the chain which had been keeping her secured to the wall not all too long ago around the wrist of the still knocked out Pat, securing it with the lock before moving back a few steps – the tranquilizer had been quite strong, as it had been the one they always had used on Oz when he had gotten too violent during his peculiar time of the month, but she had no idea how fast the metabolism of the demon might deal with it and when she'd wake up again. "But how do we go on?"

"I don't know", Buffy sighed out after a moment, looking at the witch slightly helplessly before her gaze focused on the demon again, the redhead glad to see that the only expression in the Slayer's eyes was concern. "That was the only way I could knock her out without fighting her", she went on, still focused on Pat, "but now that it worked out… Giles suggested to keep her here, at least for a while, he'll try to find a potion or a spell. Anya suggested I should just hit her on the head really hard."

"Bad idea", Willow immediately shook her head, "it might work like that in movies, but I doubt that'd also be the solution in real life." "It also works in soap operas", Buffy replied, quickly speaking on when she saw the witch raise an eyebrow. "Xander said so! Come on, you know I'm not watching soap operas. Don't look at me like that."

"Well, it doesn't work in real life", the witch dropped the topic of Buffy possibly watching soap operas after a moment, to the great relief of the Slayer, a small sigh escaping her afterwards as she looked at her knocked out girlfriend again. "You know, before you arrived here and starting beating up her henchmen demons, or whatever they're called, I was telling her about everything which happened during the last eighteen months… and she was listening, she listened to me and believed me, it didn't make her remember, but maybe it'll help…"

"It might", Buffy agreed after a moment, not sure what else to say – thanks to her destiny as the Slayer, she had dealt with a lot of things already in her young life, but amnesia hadn't been one of them. "Well", she added after a moment, "I don't like the thought of leaving you alone with her, as long as she still doesn't remember, but will you be fine staying with her for a while? I'd ask Spike, but you know how he is since I stopped… seeing him, and I have to get back to Giles and tell him everything worked out."

"It's okay", Willow reassured her in reply, smiling wryly at her afterwards, her next words making the Slayer's eyes go wide. "I don't think she'd hurt me even if she had the chance to… She almost punched me that morning, when I told her about the sweet things she said to me after killing that megalomaniac guy, but she didn't do it… Somehow, I think she wasn't able to hurt me, even without her memories."

"That's kinda cute", Buffy smiled, relieved to hear this, her worries about leaving the witch alone with the most likely still dangerous demon toned down a bit after hearing this. "She probably won't wake up until we're back anyway", she added, already getting up from the ground, putting the tranquilizer gun into the waistband of her pants, "that tranquilizer's pretty strong, after all… Just in case she does wake up, maybe you should stay out of her reach, you never know what she might do, now that your roles are reversed."

"I don't think she'd hurt me", Willow gave back, quickly speaking on at the strict look Buffy shot her in reply, "but yeah, I'll stay at a safe distance, sure."

Nodding, Buffy gave her another smile, then told her that she wouldn't be gone for long and left; holding back a sigh, Willow moved to the chair Pat had been using earlier and made herself comfortable, merely looking at her KO'ed girlfriend, once more asking herself how they might be able to fix this – and what she would do if they wouldn't be able to come up with a solution, her heart growing heavier at the thought that maybe, her girlfriend never again would remember her and what they had shared.


	13. Chapter 13

To the surprise of Willow, Pat let out a low groan half an hour after Buffy had left, then opened her eyes; she seemed a bit dazed, but apparently remembered what had happened, her gaze briefly focusing on the chain around her wrist before she looked at Willow, one of those sardonic smirks the redhead was so unused to appearing on her face while she sat up, not letting it show if she felt any side effects from the tranquilizer.

"Changed roles now, huh", she stated, tugging at the chain lightly before she focused on Willow again, her voice absurdly accusing as she spoke on. "And that was a cheap thing to do of the Slayer. Tranquilizer darts? What the Hell? That's no proper way to fight."

"She doesn't want to fight you", Willow pointed out in reply, holding back the urge to move closer to her and make sure she really was fine, remembering the advice Buffy had given her about keeping a safe distance to the demon. "You're her friend, and she avoids fighting her friends. Unless they go really, really evil and want to end the world, that is."

She grimaced at the memory of Buffy and her fighting in the Magic Box, during her time on the dark side; then, she pushed those thoughts aside and focused on Pat again, glad to see that the demon was just sitting there and not trying to free herself. "She's gone to get Giles", she added, even though at the moment, Pat had no idea who Giles was. "He'll check on you, and try to figure something out so we can restore your memories."

"I still find all of this hard to believe", the demon muttered in response, getting out her pack of cigarettes and lighting one of them up, leaning against the wall afterwards and making herself comfortable before she spoke on. "But I have to admit, it still doesn't seem like you're making any of this up, even though it does sound like a fantasy story, that thing you said about the Slayer and me being friends."

"Once you got your memories back, you'll know it's true", Willow shrugged in reply, worry filling her heart moments later when a shrewd look appeared on the face of her loved one. "And you think I'll just sit here and wait, until that guy you mentioned pops up and does his little experiments?" the demon demanded to know, to the dismay of the witch coming to her feet and shaking her head, giving her another sardonic smirk afterwards – before she started pulling the chain around her wrist with all her strength, Willow watching her uneasily, asking herself where this was coming from now, after Pat had clearly believed her when she had been telling her about their time together.

Gritting her teeth, the demon clearly wasn't willing to give up, the muscles of her arms bulging visibly as she kept pulling at the chain; the metal creaked suspiciously, but held, showing that Pat had chosen well when she had decided to use that chain to keep Willow secured to the wall. Said wall, on the other hand, didn't hold, and with an audible cracking noise, the chain was torn out of the concrete, a triumphant smirk appearing on the demon's face as all at once, she was freed.

"There we go", Pat smirked to herself, taking a step off the mattress she had been sitting on; the moment her foot touched the floor, Willow muttered a single word, the demon's eyes briefly widening, then narrowing to slits when a vine grew out of the concrete ground and wrapped around her leg, making it impossible for her to take another step. "Sorry", the witch now stated, making the demon look at her again, "but I can't let you go…"

Growling, Pat clenched her fists, glaring at her, the redhead nearly shrinking back at the glance – during all the time they had been together, her loved one never had looked at her that way before, not even during the rare arguments they had had. Telling herself that this wasn't the Pat she knew, Willow forced herself to hold her gaze, and to stand her ground; she crossed her arms over her chest when the demon started to tear at the vine, shaking her head at the sight, a small sigh escaping her before she spoke on. "You might as well spare yourself the effort, I'll just make it grow again the moment you damage it. Please, can't you just do me the favour and sit down and wait for Buffy and Giles to arrive?"

"I don't see why I should", Pat muttered in reply, glancing down at the vine in annoyance as she saw that Willow had fulfilled her promise – the little damage she had managed to do to the vine was gone, the witch obviously not willing to let her free herself so she could escape. "But seems you won't give me much of a choice", she thus added, slumping back on the mattress; relieved, Willow let out the breath she had been holding while she had waited for her girlfriend's reaction, making herself comfortable in the chair again, keeping her concentration focused on the vine she used to hold Pat in place and silently hoping to herself that Buffy and Giles would arrive soon, not sure how much longer she'd been able to keep the spell up.

* * *

To her relief, the Slayer and the Watcher arrived at the hideout – which, technically, wasn't a very hidden hideout anymore – another ten minutes later; by now, she was starting to feel exhausted from keeping up the vine spell, her happiness about the return of her friends thus clearly showing on her face the moment they stepped through the broken door. "There you are", she greeted, Buffy giving her a brief nod and a smile in response – before she looked at the vine wrapped around Pat's leg and at the spot where the chain had been torn out of the wall, one of her eyebrows wandering up.

"Good job Willow", she stated after studying the scene for another moment; the demon just grumbled to herself and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at Buffy and Giles, both of them holding her gaze unimpressed.

"I brought a potion", the Watcher stated, holding up a small bottle filled with ominous looking blue gooey stuff, "and in case that doesn't work, I found a spell you, Willow, might use… Would you mind stepping outside with me for a moment so we can go through it?"

"Sure", the witch gave back, telling herself that even if she wouldn't be able to hold up the vine spell from another room, Buffy surely would manage to keep Pat in check, should the demon try to get past her. "So you still don't remember", the Slayer stated as soon as Willow and Giles had left the room, crossing her arms and looking at the demon, her gaze once more focusing on the hole in the wall where the chain had been torn out. "Well, let's hope Giles can fix this", she went on, looking back at the taller woman, "and I guess you should be glad you didn't hurt Willow… I told her I would try not to hurt you, in case we should end up fighting, but if you had done something to her…"

"You'd try not to hurt me, huh", Pat repeated in reply, Buffy not really liking the smirk which appeared on her face, unaware of the fact that by now, the demon felt the vine around her leg loosening its powerful grip on her, a clear sign that the spell the witch had used was fading away. "That should make an interesting fight then…"

And with those words, she lashed out with the arm the chain still was attached to, the length of metal rushing towards the Slayer's face; with reflexes trained by years of fighting, Buffy easily dodged it, a dismayed groan escaping her when she saw the vine which had been holding the demon in place vanish away into nothingness. With a triumphant noise, she launched herself off the mattress and at the blonde woman, pulling back her fist to land a powerful punch; briefly, Buffy was glad that so far, the demon hadn't made said fist flame up, then was distracted from that relief when she had to dodge the punch, moving a few steps back afterwards, wishing for a board or something else she might use to keep Pat in check without actually hurting her.

"Stop it", she snapped while she jumped back from another punch, the demon letting out a frustrated growl at the Slayer's way too good reflexes, "I told you, I don't want to fight you!" _Dammit, what are Willow and Giles doing out there? _she mentally cursed, throwing a longing glance at the door as if this would summon the two; technically, the sound of fighting should have gained their attention, but on the other hand, this wasn't a real fight so far, only Pat trying to hit her and she easily avoiding all the attacks, and thus probably they didn't make much noise.

"Too bad I want to fight you", the demon now growled, trying to land a kick this time; finally having enough of this, Buffy dodged in underneath it, then delivered a punch herself, her fist connecting with the black haired woman's stomach and causing her to let out a low grunt as the air got knocked out of her.

"Now we're talking", she smirked afterwards, quickly recovering from the hit she'd taken; Buffy just brought up her fists in reply, and the two started exchanging punches and kicks, the Slayer not bothering much with dodging all of them anymore, still giving her best though to keep her fists and feet away from the demon's face, aiming for her legs and upper body instead. The noise they were madding as they fought finally attracted the attention of both Giles and Willow, both of them rushing back into the room a minute after the real fighting hard started, just in time for the witch to see how Buffy landed a rather painful looking high kick right into her lover's stomach, hard enough to send her back and against the wall, a low grunt coming from her as her back connected with the stone.

"Go for the spell", the Watcher immediately advised Willow, realizing at once that now, there was no way they could make the demon drink the potion without actually forcing it down her throat, "but be careful…"

"Yes", the witch gave back, wincing when she saw Buffy slam her loved one against the wall once more, the Slayer obviously in full fighting mode now; briefly, she wondered how she was supposed to get close enough to the demon to do the spell without putting herself in danger of getting hit, then shrugged it off and just rushed in, calling out Buffy's name as she did so to gain the attention of her best friend. Clearly, Buffy immediately figured out what the redhead was up to; she slammed the demon against the wall once more, dazing her enough this time to keep her still at least for a few seconds, thus giving Willow the time she needed to reach them.

Taking in a deep breath, she reached up and grasped Pat's head with both hands; the demon just had time to look at her, then she had spoken the words of the spell Giles had found, a bright flash of light coming up right after she had uttered the last one – before Pat let out a blood-curdling shout, her eyes rolling back into her head as her knees gave in beneath her and she slumped to the ground where she remained motionless.


	14. Chapter 14

"Pat!_ Pat!"_ Willow cried out after a moment of shocked silence, falling to her knees next to the knocked out demon and shaking her, panic filling her heart and mind, blocking everything else out; next to her, Buffy went down on one knee as well and checked the black haired woman's pulse, relieved to find it a bit slow, but steady and strong, the slow rising and falling of her chest making it clear that she still was breathing properly as well.

"Why did this happen?" she demanded to know, looking at Giles; apparently unsettled by this as well, the Watcher took off his glasses and started cleaning them, clearing his throat before he replied. "Well, she did lose quite a lot of her memories, and the spell put them all back at once so… I assume it was some sort of overload."

"Why didn't you tell me this might happen?" Willow snapped accusingly, by now cradling the demon in her arms, against her chest; she glared at the Watcher, making him clear his throat once more before he shrugged, giving her a rather helpless look. "To be honest, I wasn't fully aware of it either. The book was warning about side effects, but I wouldn't have thought that they'd be so… drastic. I'm sure she'll be fine though."

"Well, her pulse is steady, and she's breathing", Buffy pointed out in reply, giving her best friend a hopefully calming smile. "I'm sure she'll wake up soon, and then everything will be fine…" "…and dandy", the demon's voice added, sounding hoarse; Willow's eyes widened as she glanced down on her, her relief lighting up her whole face when her gaze met Pat's, the black haired woman still appearing dazed, but at least not as if she wanted to jump up and go on fighting.

Not sure how to ask if the spell had worked, all Willow could do was look at her in response, her expression now a mixture of fear and hope; moments later, her loved one took all her worries away as she focused her gaze on her, her voice sounding a bit stronger already as she spoke on. "Next time something like this happens, make me drink the potion… I think you fried parts of my brain."

"Alright", Willow brought out in reply, feeling close to tears, but still with a smile on her face; holding back the urge to cry happy tears, she pulled the demon even closer to herself, caressing her hair and kissing her face again and again, Buffy and Giles watching with slight smiles on their face, all of them clearly relieved that at least one of their problems had been solved.

* * *

Thanks to the unexpectedly strong side effect of the spell, Pat was still a bit wobbly on her feet when they left the hideout together, both Buffy and Willow supporting her more than willingly though, each of them having an arm of the taller woman around their shoulders as they made their way outside.

"Sorry for hitting you", the demon mumbled, glancing at Buffy, clearly ashamed; shrugging it off, the Slayer smiled at her, then told her that it was okay and that it hadn't really been her fault, clearly relieving the black haired woman of her guilty conscience. "I'm just glad you're fine again", Buffy went on, sounding a bit guilty herself now. "If I had known this would happen, I never would have brought you along to that warehouse…"

"That stupid beam", Pat muttered in reply, shaking her head to herself – something which she immediately regretted doing though, since it made a fresh wave of dizziness surge through her head, momentarily making her feel close to throwing up, relief filling her when the feeling passed quickly.

"We better get you home", Willow voiced concern at the sight of her girlfriend's face paling visibly, making Buffy and Giles nod their agreement immediately. "Yes, you should get some rest", the Watcher now vocally agreed to the redhead's words as well, giving the demon a concerned look as he spoke on. "We'll all need our full strength soon to handle… whatever is still around here, decapitating people."

The demon looked rather unhappy about those words, clearly not in the mood to fight any other demonic beings yet, but nodded; Willow threw Giles a dismayed look as well, her gaze asking him if it really had been necessary to bring this up now before she focused on her loved one again, her voice stern when she spoke up. "For now, you won't handle anything, you'll get home and get some rest, as Giles said. Once we're back home, you'll lie down on the couch and will only get up to go to the toilet or, at night, to bed!"

"Yes Ma'am", the taller woman smirked in reply, obviously returning to her usual self slowly, despite still feeling dizzy; Willow just smiled at her, Pat returning the smile before she focused on putting one foot in front of the other again, something the dizzy feeling in her head and the queasiness in her stomach didn't make exactly easier, but at least she knew that, with the help of the Slayer and of her loved one, she'd be back at her apartment soon where she'd be able to get all the rest she needed.

* * *

"I hope the others won't be too mad at me", Pat stated half an hour later, lying on the couch; she had to speak up so Willow would hear her, since the redhead was in the kitchen and preparing tea for her, her voice coming up from there moments later. "Nah, they'll be okay… It wasn't really your fault, you weren't yourself."

"Actually, I was", the demon muttered, sure that Willow hadn't heard her; to her surprise though, she had done just that, a frown on her face as she entered the living room with the teacup in hand, giving her girlfriend a curious look. "What do you mean?"

"I was myself", Pat repeated, briefly wondering if this actually had been proper English before she shrugged it off and spoke on, a small sigh escaping her as she did so. "The way I behaved… That's how I am. Or was, when I still was… working… before I met you."

"Oh", Willow gave back, not knowing what else to reply; uneasily, the demon kept looking at her, asking herself if maybe, it would have been better not to say this and if there would be any unwanted consequences now. She knew that her girlfriend was aware of her true nature, and didn't mind it – briefly, the comment about her "cute demon form" came to her mind, forcing her to hold back a grimace – but that of course didn't mean that she also was alright with the things she had done before they had met, and all at once, the demon felt deeply afraid that what had happened during the last days might chance their relationship or maybe even ruin it, something she wasn't sure she'd be able to handle.

For a while, the witch remained quiet, obviously trying to sort out her thoughts; when she finally spoke up, Pat held her breath, anxious to see her girlfriend's reaction to the unpleasant truth she just had been told. "Well… As you said, that was how you were… It's not how you are now, or have been since we've been together. You know what freaked me out the most when I was your captive?" Not sure where this was leading, the demon shook her head when Willow's gaze met hers; smiling weakly, the redhead sat down next to her, taking her hand and holding it tenderly, her voice soft when she spoke on. "The way you were looking at me and talking to me… So cold and uncaring. Maybe that's how you were before we met, but you've never been this way with me…"

She fell silent, not sure if she had brought her point across, taking another moment to sort her thoughts before she spoke on. "As I said, maybe that was how you were in the past… But you're not like that now, not anymore. So… no, you weren't yourself back then… You've changed, and I know you never will act that way with me when you're… well, when you're yourself. As in, the way you are now. With your memories back and everything… Am I even remotely making sense?"

With those words, she fell silent, giving the taller woman a helpless glance; smiling, Pat nodded, glad when this didn't bring a new wave of dizziness, squeezing the redhead's hand tenderly. "It made perfect sense", she then reassured her, her smile turning into a slightly mischief smirk as she went on. "At least to me, I know you well enough by now to decipher your sometimes slightly peculiar wording…"

"I see you are returning to your sometimes snarky self", Willow replied dryly, giving the demon a scolding look – before she lost her self-control and started giggling, making her loved one chuckle as well. "And that's just great", she added once she had calmed down enough to be able to speak, her smile warm as she focused on her girlfriend again. "I can't tell you how much I missed that… how much I missed you…"

With those words, she leaned down to kiss her loved one tenderly, her heart performing happy summersaults in her chest when the black haired woman responded, making her realize once more how much she had missed it to feel those lips on hers during the last few days.


	15. Chapter 15

In the next morning, the gang met at the apartment the demon and the witch shared with each other, Willow providing breakfast for them, everyone immediately noticing the absence of her girlfriend, Anya being the first one to point it out and to inquire about Pat's whereabouts.

"So where's your recently gone evil and now back to good girlfriend?" she demanded to know, taking a sip of the coffee Willow had prepared afterwards; smiling, the witch took the time to take a bite of her donut before she responded, her words making the rest smirk as well. "Still slumbering… Snoring, to be exact. That spell really had quite the bad side effects, she was all woozy yesterday and almost fell asleep right there, on the couch."

"And we shouldn't wake her up", Buffy added before Anya could suggest doing exactly that, "we can also discuss that head-stealing thingy without her… It's not like that there's much to discuss, anyway, right Giles?" With those words, she turned to look at the Watcher, making him nod with a small sigh; as always when something was bothering him, he took off his glasses and started to clean them, his gaze moving from one member of the gang to the next as he spoke up. "So far, we unfortunately have no idea what exactly is collecting those heads… And what it might need them for. I looked up demons which are known for decapitating their victims, but there are too many to narrow it down, even with the fact that the heads are taken along taking into account."

"What about the warehouse?" Xander demanded to know in reply, giving the elder man a curious look, "I mean, there was all this ugly stuff there, organs in jars and everything… Isn't this connected to the decapitation thingy?"

"If it was, there's no way to find out anymore, with the warehouse burned down", Giles replied, putting his glasses back on, his gaze focusing on Buffy as he spoke on. "I tried to look up demons hiring vampires or other, lesser demons for their causes as well, after what you told me about the trap at said warehouse. As you all know, usually, vampires aren't too willing to work together, and usually too impatient and driven by their instincts to go through with plans, so the demon must have been rather… convincing."

"Telling them that the Slayer will be out of the way if they follow his lead should be convincing enough", Buffy shrugged, selecting a donut from the box filled with them and taking a huge bite out of it, taking her time to chew and swallow before she spoke on. "But doesn't narrow it down at least a bit? There are demons who can't communicate with anyone else but their own kind after all, right?"

"Yes, but not many", Giles replied, to her great dismay, Willow helping with increasing it even further by what she threw in next. "And there are spells which can give those demons the ability to communicate outside their own kind… Spells and trinkets, potions…"

"Plus, the demons which aren't capable of communication with anyone else but their own race are usually quite primitive", Anya helpfully informed the rest, continuing when Buffy threw her a curious look, silently asking her to go on. "They don't take heads along to do whatever with them, they just want to maim and kill. They don't take souvenirs."

"Are there any rituals which require heads?" Willow demanded to know while Buffy thought about the ex-demon's words, gaining Giles' attention, dismayed when he let out a sigh in response, a clear sign that his answer wouldn't be very satisfying. "Several, unfortunately. So far, we got three decapitations, there are several rituals which require three human heads, but of course there are also plenty which require more… And we can't know if more decapitations are going to follow, so even that is impossible to narrow it down."

"So, long story short, we know nothing", Xander summed up the result of their talk, popping the sad remains of his donut into his mouth and gulping it down before he continued. "And we have no idea how to find anything out. Right?"

"I might be able to help with that", a familiar voice came from the kitchen door, making them all flinch in their seats – before Willow turned around to throw her girlfriend a scolding look, her voice a mixture of annoyance and worry when she replied. "What are you doing out of bed? Are you sure you're well enough?"

"I'm fine", Pat reassured her, smiling at her before she moved to the coffee can – only to make a long face when she saw it was empty, a low grumble coming from her while she moved to the table and sat down next to the redhead, helping herself to one of the donuts, giving Xander and Anya a guilty look afterwards. "Um… sorry for knocking the two of you out. I hope I didn't hurt you too bad…"

"Just got a bump", Xander reassured her in reply, giving her a cheery smile to show there were no hard feelings.

"I thought about suing you for a compensation for my pain and suffering", Anya informed the demon, making her rise an eyebrow, "but the others talked me out of it and said it wasn't your fault. It was the beam, they told me."

"It was", Pat agreed, "and I'm glad you didn't sue me, I would have had a hard time explaining it to the judge."

"What did you mean when you said you might be able to help with that?" Giles demanded to know, changing the topic from possible troublesome lawsuits to a much more important one; shrugging, the demon took another bite of the donut, then brought out her cigarettes, making Willow grimace beside her – during all the months they had been together, she still hadn't gotten used to the demon's urge to smoke right after getting up.

"Well", she stated after taking the first drag of her cigarette, "as far as I know, no one of the baddies here figured out so far that I'm back to my demon-fighting, Slayer-aiding self. So, I could go to that bar and see if I can find something out."

"Good idea", Buffy immediately agreed, before anyone else had the chance to say something and maybe protest, knowing that at the moment, this was their only chance to get any clues about what was going on. "You shouldn't go there alone though", she added after a moment, "just in case they did figure it out after all and attack you."

"I'll go with her", Willow immediately replied, making everyone else look at her, the redhead shrugging before she explained her decision. "Well, Buffy, you can hardly go with her, right? Neither can you, Xander and Anya, or you, Giles. Plus, they probably know she's taken me prisoner, so we can make up some story why I'm with her and it won't seem too suspicious. And you know I can protect myself, in case it should be necessary…"

"Alright", Buffy agreed after a moment of thinking about this, "the two of you it is then… Stay there only as long as necessary though, and talk as little as possible, just to make sure you won't blow your cover."

"Hey!" Pat protested, sounding slightly offended, "I've done this a million times before, what do you think I am, a beginner or something? I know how not to blow my cover, thank you."

"Yeah, but Willow doesn't", Buffy pointed out, the witch having to admit to her dismay that she was right. "She doesn't have two hundred years of experience."

"We'll do fine", Pat gave back, a mischief glint entering her eyes as she looked at her girlfriend, the redhead for a moment not sure what to think of what she said next. "In fact, I already know how to make sure my loved one here won't blow her cover…"

* * *

The bar was rather crowded, with vampires and demons sitting at the tables and at the counter, drinking blood and beer; some of them glanced at the couple as they entered, a few of those taking a double take at the sight of Willow, the redhead by now well-known among the hellish community of Sunnydale as the Slayer's little helper witch, the sight of her entering behind the Slayer's ex-pet-demon causing several eyebrows in the room to raise.

"Hey, you, the walking flame thrower", one of the cheekier demons finally called out, gaining the attention of the guests who had been minding their own business so far, "I heard the Slayer gave you quite a beating, and killed your little cronies. That true?"

"Almost", Pat gave back, sounding so much like she had during her time of amnesia that Willow had to use almost all her willpower to keep a straight face, startled by how good the act of her loved one was – there was an air of arrogance around her as she moved to the one who had spoken, looking down on him, her facial expression and body language making it clear that she wouldn't hesitate to hurt him, should he say or do the wrong thing. "I guess you should be able to tell that she received quite the beating as well", she continued, giving him a cruel little smirk, the redhead surprised to see that he actually was growing slightly uneasy.

"After all, I'm still alive", Pat now went on, gesturing at Willow afterwards without looking at her, her smirk widening slightly, turning into a rather malicious looking smile. "And I still got her little pet witch…"

"And you bring her here?" one of the vampires now threw in, giving her a shocked glance, once more forcing Willow to work on keeping a straight face – so far, she hadn't been really aware of the fact that not only Buffy had quite the reputation among Sunnydale's more evil population, but that she was quite known – and obviously feared – as well. "Are you crazy? She's a witch, as you said. She killed a guy by ripping off his skin!"

"She's my pet witch now", Pat smirked in reply, now looking at her girlfriend briefly, no one else noticing the apologetic glance she was giving her – they had agreed on doing it this way before, but still it relieved Willow to see that the demon wasn't all too comfortable with it, either.

"How'd you do that?" the demon who had spoken up first demanded to know, his grumbling voice a mixture of surprise and disbelief.

"Well", the black haired woman smirked, focusing on the other demon again, "let's say that it's too bad to have a mind control spell backfire…"

"She's under your control?" the demon demanded to know in response, the witch not liking the lusty glint appearing in his eyes one bit. "Awesome… Would you let me borrow her for a while?"

"What?" the black haired woman gave back, her act slipping for a moment as she sounded just a bit too stunned, to the relief of both Willow and herself quickly regaining her composure though and sneering at the insolent demon. "No. She's mine, and I'm not big with sharing."

"Sharing is caring", the demon replied, obviously thinking that this was a very witty thing to say – only to yelp a second later as Pat grabbed him around the throat and jerked him up from his seat, glaring at him with glowing red eyes.

"Well, I don't care about you", she snapped, Willow once more struggling not to let her emotions show, hoping that this wouldn't let the other demons and vampires around realize that something was a bit off here. "In fact, I care so little about you that I'd have no problem with snapping your neck, right now. She is mine, and mine alone. Understand?"

He let out a small croaking noise which sounded like an agreement, and she dropped him unceremoniously; coughing, he rubbed his throat, the rest looking at the scene in stunned silence, until one of them spoke up, his voice a mixture of respect and even, to the witch's delight, admiration. "Wow, possessive much? No one's gonna take your little pet from you, calm down… No need to rip his head off…"

"We already got one guy who's doing that, albeit to humans", one of the demons sitting at the counter threw in, laughing, saying exactly what the witch and the demon had wanted to hear; again, Pat demonstrated her surprisingly good acting skills as she turned towards the one who had spoken, sounding as if it didn't interest her at all when she replied. "Ripping off heads, huh? Sounds like a guy I'd like. Got any details?"

"Depends", the demon smirked, lifting his empty glass; in reply, Pat nodded at the barkeep, making him refill the glass immediately, the black haired woman handing him a twenty and telling him to keep the glass refilled as long as the money lasted before she focused on the one she had paid for. "So?"

The demon took the time to take a sip of his drink, smacking his lips afterwards, clearly appreciating the taste; then, he finally looked at the taller woman and started talking, both Pat and Willow listening with great interest, both of them giving their best not to let said interest show as the demon kept talking, unknowingly giving them just the information they needed.


	16. Chapter 16

"Am I glad to be out of there", Willow muttered almost two hours later, back at the apartment; since it would have been suspicious to leave right after the demon had finished telling Pat about the one responsible for the decapitations, they had stayed another hour after he had gotten done talking, with Willow playing the obedient, mind-controlled witch and Pat keeping up her role of the unscrupulous, evil assassin.

"So am I", the demon now sighed out, all arrogance and readiness to hurt others gone as she leaned against the kitchen counter and lit up a cigarette, another sigh escaping her as she looked at the redhead apologetically. "Sorry I had to treat you like that…"

"No need to be", Willow shrugged it off, smiling at her reassuringly, "I knew what I was getting into when you told me about your idea… I have to say, I'm impressed, you pulled that I'm-such-an-evil-demon-thing off really well."

"You did quite good, too", Pat smirked in reply, wrapping one arm around her waist and pulling her closer to herself, the mischief twinkle back in her eyes as she spoke on. "And to be perfectly honest with you, it got me worked up a bit…"

"Why am I not surprised?" Willow giggled in reply, making the taller woman give her another smirk; now with a rather well-known twinkle in her eyes as well, the redhead stepped as close as possible to her loved one, putting both arms around her neck, her voice down to a low murmur as she spoke on. "Even though, I have to admit as well, seeing you act all tough and evil was kinda turning on as well… And those looks you gave me when that one vampire started to make his nasty comments, you know, that short guy with the green hair, I actually almost expected you to push me up against the next wall and smooch me like there's no tomorrow, like, I dunno, marking your territory?"

"What an intriguing thought", Pat smirked in reply, tightening her embrace around the witch slightly. "Would you want me to do that? Push you up against the wall and smooch you as if there's no tomorrow?"

"I don't know", Willow replied, the mischief twinkle still in her eyes, "it's never been done to me before…"

"About time, then", the demon replied, smirking – before she tightened her embrace around the redhead even further and pushed her backwards, up against the opposite wall, her lips on hers moments later, kissing her with a heat and passion that immediately made her heart beat faster. With a low, muffled moan, Willow wrapped her arms tighter around her loved one, a shudder running through her when her lover's hands moved to her blouse and started unbuttoning it, all her thoughts blown away minutes later as her lust and passion got the better of her.

* * *

"We didn't even make it to the table this time", Willow muttered quite some time later, once she had regained enough of her breath to be able to speak again; next to her, Pat chuckled and nodded, glancing down at the witch sitting at her side afterwards, a well-known glint in her eyes since so far, Willow hadn't buttoned up her blouse again.

"But we could go there now", she suggested, causing the witch to give her a mock horrified glance, the giggle which escaped her a moment later ruining the effect though.

"Sometimes, your stamina really scares me", she then stated, shaking her head as she continued. "But I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you, I'm not even sure if I can get up right now." In response, Pat just smirked at her – before she moved one arm beneath her knees and the other one to her back, scooping her up easily and making her squeal, her eyes lighting up as the demon carried her over to the bedroom, the glint in her eyes making it quite clear that neither of them would get any sleep anytime soon.

* * *

In the next morning, it became perfectly clear that Pat was fully back to her usual self as she scuffled into the kitchen, a grumpy expression on her still sleepy face; cheerfully, Willow greeted her with a hearty "Good morning", not taking offense when she only received a grunt in reply, giving the taller woman a happy smile while she placed the cup of coffee she already had prepared for her in front of her, receiving another grunt as a sign of gratitude.

By now, the witch knew her lover well enough to not mind this kind of behaviour anymore – during most mornings, Pat behaved like a Neanderthal when she got up, and it hadn't taken the redhead long to get used to it, even though it forced her to hold back on her need to chat, something which hadn't been easy for her during the first few months. Knowing that she had to give her loved one time until she'd be capable of communication which differed from grunts and grumbles, Willow sat down next to her and focused on the morning paper; to her relief, no further beheadings were mentioned in the crime section, but she knew that this didn't mean it was over – after what the demon at the bar had told them, it would never be over, unless they'd manage to find and stop the demon who was responsible for it.

Making a mental note to herself to call Buffy as soon as they had finished breakfast, Willow got done with the paper and focused on her girlfriend; by now, half of the coffee cup's content had found it's way into the taller woman's stomach, a clear sign that she at least was capable of proper speech, the witch testing this a moment later by speaking up.

"I'll call Buffy once we're done with breakfast and tell her about what that demon told us yesterday… Knowing her, she'll probably want to go to that place he mentioned tonight, so we should make sure we're rested."

"I'll make sure I'm rested", Pat muttered in reply, getting up from her seat afterwards and, coffee cup in hand, made her way to the window, opening it before she lit up her morning cigarette, throwing the redhead a strict look afterwards. "I won't let you come along when we go fight that… thing."

"Yes you will", Willow replied calmly, but still determined, making it quite clear to the demon that she wouldn't discuss this much – she hardly ever had that tone in her voice and that look on her face, but if she did, words usually were fruitless. "You heard what that demon said", she continued, "the demon we're after is dangerous and a bit on the crazy side, as well, so you might need some magic to help you with defeating it."

"Fine", Pat sighed out after a moment, throwing the witch a slightly annoyed look afterwards, "I know there's no use in discussing this with you when you got that look on your face… Just promise you'll be careful and will try to stay away from that demon, alright?"

"Of course", Willow smiled, glad that at least this time, the demon had given in so quickly, "if I have to use spells, I'll use those which don't require physical contact to work… I'm not suicidal."

"Good", Pat sighed, taking another drag of her cigarette afterwards; Willow gave her another smile, then finished her coffee, grabbing the phone afterwards and calling the Slayer, eager to inform her about what they had found out.

* * *

"Alright", Giles stated in the evening of the same day, letting the rather thick book he had brought along thump down on the table in the middle of the Magic Box, gaining the attention of everyone else in the room, "thanks to the information Pat and Willow gained at that bar, we now know which demon exactly we're after. Buffy, I have to warn you that it is described as extremely dangerous and not exactly sane, so you'll have to be careful. Willow and Pat will come along to aid you during the fight, but you still shouldn't take any risks."

"We'll be fine", Buffy reassured her Watcher in reply; he resettled his glasses, then gave her another serious look, his voice just as serious as his facial expression when he continued. "Keep in mind that he convinced vampires to work for him before, so he might do it again, which could make the battle significantly harder."

"Vampire bodyguards", Pat commented in reply, amusing the rest by pushing her glasses back up her nose as well, curiously resembling Giles for a moment, "could be. But as long as he doesn't set the place on fire again, I'm quite sure we'll be fine, just as Buffy said."

"Just keep in mind that this demon might be stronger than you think right now", Giles sighed out in response, clearly thinking that they didn't take this seriously enough. "It's been several days since the last decapitation happened, so his… supplies… might have run out by now, and hunger will make him even more dangerous than he already is. Don't count on him being weakened by this though, as I said, you really should not underestimate this demon."

With those words, he opened the thick book he had brought along and pointed to one of the pictures, the rest grimacing as they looked at it and at the horribly ugly demon it was portraying, the reason why it was collecting heads shown quite clearly as well since the picture showed it digging into a piece of brain it was holding in one clawed hand.

"Charming", Buffy muttered, eying the picture with a mild expression of disgust on her face; next to her, Pat grimaced, sounding slightly nauseated as she spoke up, to the surprise of everyone else in the room – she was a demon too, after all. "I hope he's not having a snack when we get there, or I'll probably barf on my shoes. And that would really bother me, because those are nice shoes."

"You're a demon", Anya was the one to say what everyone else had been thinking, even Willow, "shouldn't you be used to seeing such stuff?"

"No way", the demon protested, shaking her head, "I didn't hang out with that kind of demons. There are several of us who're more civilized than eating brains, you know…"

"Not many though", Anya quipped, smiling cheerfully; Pat gave her a sour look in reply, her voice dry when she replied. "Thanks for backing me up here, Anya…"

"Oh, you're welcome", the ex-demon gave back, the sarcasm obviously lost on her; rolling her eyes, Pat got up from her chair and excused herself in reply, leaving the store to have a cigarette, Willow following her outside a second later while Giles once more turned to Buffy and started briefing her on the strengths and weaknesses of the demon they would fight later on, obviously eager to prepare her as best as possible for the upcoming challenge.


	17. Chapter 17

By the time the trio left the Magic Box, it had gotten dark outside, something they all were thankful for – Buffy could conceal her sword beneath her long coat, but Pat once more had chosen the battle axe she favoured so much, and thanks to its size, it was impossible to hide. Even though usually, the streets of Sunnydale were rather quiet and empty at night, they stuck to the side alleys and stayed away from the main streets; it didn't take long until they had reached the outskirts of the town and the forest which laid beyond them, the cave where the demon they were after had his hideout located somewhere in there.

"Please tell me there are just one or two caves in that forest", Pat sighed out at the sight of said forest, dismayed at how big it seems; smiling, Buffy nodded, then gestured south, reassuringly patting the demon's shoulder afterwards.

"Just two, at least just two which are big enough to work as a proper hideout", she then stated, chuckling when the taller woman let out a relieved sigh in response – before they continued walking, the Slayer now carrying her sword in one hand while Pat had slung the axe over her shoulder, Willow walking along next to her in silence, already concentrating so she'd have the mental balance she'd need to cast spells. It didn't take long until the cave appeared ahead of them, and shortly after that, all three of them grimaced – the smell of decay which greeted them made it quite clear that they were at the right place, the Slayer letting out a sigh as she approached the cave mouth, shaking her head to herself.

"You'd think he'd bury them properly, seeing he lives here", she mumbled, making Pat nod her agreement; as they stepped into the cave together, the demon her hands flare up, providing much needed light, Buffy giving her a short, but grateful glance in response. As they moved deeper into the cave, soft smacking sounds reached their ears, causing Pat's face to pale visibly; gulping, she clutched the shaft of her axe harder as she fought to keep her dinner inside, her stomach turning when they rounded a corner and found themselves in a rather large section of the cave, the demon sitting in the middle of it and eating away happily on what looked suspiciously like parts of a human brain.

"Oh jeez", Pat brought out in a strangely choked voice, her face even looking slightly green now; Willow gave her a concerned look, but before she had the chance to say something, their target for the night looked up from his snack and smiled, a strangled burping sound coming from the black haired woman at the sight of the bits and pieces of grey matter which clung to his sharp, black teeth.

"Why, welcome", he snarled, lifting his dinner so the three women could get a better look at it, "have you come to join me at dinner? Or are you my next meal? I didn't know this lovely town has a delivery service."

"Sorry, no delivery for you", Buffy gave back, obviously unimpressed – while behind her, Pat still struggled to keep her stomach's contents down, clearly sickened by the display in front of them. "We're here to get rid of you", the Slayer now went on, not letting it show if she was disturbed by the sight as well; she raised her sword slightly, the blade glistening dangerously in the flickering light Pat's fire created, looking very sharp and very pointy. Obviously though, the demon wasn't all too impressed by that; he carefully put the brain he had been snacking on down, then came to his feet, the three women momentarily stunned at how big he was – he was towering over all of them, even Pat, who already was considerably taller than Buffy and Willow, his horned head nearly touching the cave's ceiling.

"We'll see about that", he stated, laughing afterwards as if the Slayer had told some great joke. "I think you're my food delivery after all…"

And with those words, he launched himself forward, his fists clenched, Buffy bringing up her sword just in time to parry the first hit, her instincts taking over not all too long afterwards; next to her, Pat apparently got over her nausea as well, since she joined the fight a few seconds later while Willow retreated a few steps, watching with worry in her heart how her loved one and her best friend battled the huge demon, all at once scared that Giles had been right and that this fight might end up being much harder than any of them had thought.

* * *

To the dismay of both Buffy and Pat, the demon wasn't just tall and strong, but also quick – he easily dodged the weapons of both women, countering with attacks of his own so fast that they barely had time to avoid them as well. As Willow watched the fight progress, she realized that it was only a matter of time until either Buffy or Pat would take a hit; she didn't want to imagine the damage this might do, especially not after seeing how the demon punched the wall when Buffy ducked one of his hits and tore a hole into the stone, several pieces of rock falling to the ground when he pulled his fist back out and swung at the Slayer again.

Rather gracefully, Buffy bowed backwards, avoiding his punch; the moment she could be sure he wouldn't hit her, she launched herself towards him again, bringing up her sword, a smirk curling her lips when finally, the blade connected and drew blood as it bit into the demon's side. Howling in pain and rage, the demon responded by swinging another punch at her; given the chance given by how he was focused on Buffy, Pat swung her axe at him as well, a triumphant smirk appearing on her face when the blade cut into one of his legs and made him stumble – before he whipped around stunningly fast and, before she even could try to react, lashed out at her, his enormous fist crashing into her stomach and sending her back against the wall, a low grunt coming from her as she slammed into it.

Deciding that she had seen enough of the demon trying to hit her best friend and her loved one, Willow started preparing the vine spell, telling herself that it'd be easier for the two fighters to finish that worrisome demon off once he was tied in place; apparently, Buffy noticed what she was planning to do, since she called out "Not yet!" to the witch, surprising her momentarily – before she stopped, by now knowing the Slayer well enough to figure that she had some sort of plan.

"Come on, big guy", Buffy now started taunting the demon, jumping out of reach of his fists when he swung them at her again, "you surely can do better than that…" She ducked behind one of the natural pillars in the cave, the demon's punch smashing it moments later; several large parts of rock fell from the ceiling, and all at once, Willow suspected what the Slayer was about to do, her suspicion turning into knowledge when the blonde woman ducked behind yet another pillar and made the demon smash it as well.

Realizing that maybe, they'd have to get out very fast very soon, the witch hurried over to where Pat was struggling to come to her feet again, dazed by the hit she had taken; for once not caring about being gentle, she grabbed the black haired woman's arm and almost jerked her to her feet, supporting her with one arm across her back as she hurriedly led her closer to the cave's exit, relieved that the demon Buffy still was taunting took no notice of them.

"We might have to run soon", she whispered to Pat, watching how yet another pillar crumbled at a powerful punch, "do you think you'll be able to…?"

"Yeah", the taller woman grumbled in response, shooting a poisonous look at the other demon, "but I'd love to pay that fucker back for that…"

"Language", Willow gave back without thinking, her standard response to such verbal lapses of her girlfriend; before the taller woman could reply something, the sound of falling rock increased all around them, Buffy calling out "Willow, now!", the witch immediately focusing on her task and casting the spell, satisfied when at once, a thick vine shot out of the ground and wrapped around both legs of the demon, causing him to let out a frustrated growl. It wasn't necessary to tell Willow and Pat that they had to run now, to the Slayer's relief; the moment the vine was keeping the demon in place, the three of them turned and ran, the deafening noise of falling rocks behind them, to their dismay clearly catching up with them as the whole ceiling of the cave was coming down.


	18. Chapter 18

Author's Note: Here we go with the last chapter of this fic :) I hope everyone who read it had as much fun as I had while writing it (except for the times when I was stuck or cursed by Writer's Block, of course). Feedback would be highly appreciated, and just as I said - or wrote - at the ending of the two previous stories, I'm still "in the zone", so yet another fic starring our favourite witch, her short-tempered companion and the rest of the bunch will be put up here soon. Until then, rock on \m/

* * *

"Faster", Buffy commanded, receiving only pants in reply as the two others ran along next to her; they rounded the last corner, the exit appearing ahead of them, the sight giving them another burst of fresh energy. With the noises of breaking rock now right above them, the trio rushed towards the exit, stones now falling all around them; the last, short distance was closed by a daring dive, Pat and Buffy landing rather gracefully while Willow didn't do so well, but at least managed to stay on her feet.

"This should be enough to kill him", Buffy stated once they all had made sure that there were out of the dangerous area close to the by now blocked entrance of the cave, "and even if the rocks didn't finish the job, he'll starve sooner or later… We did a good job."

With those words, she smiled at Willow and Pat, then focused on the demon, sounding slightly concerned when she spoke on. "You're okay, right? That punch you took looked pretty painful."

The taller woman just nodded in reply, smiling weakly when the Slayer looked at Willow and complimented her on the spell; moments later, her gaze focused on Pat again, her voice sounding just amused enough to let both Willow and the black haired woman notice. "I guess you can go vomit now."

"Buffy!" Willow cried out in response, shocked, wondering why her best friend all at once was so rude to her loved one – before Pat nodded beside her, looking grateful, then stormed off to the closest bushes, the sound of her puking echoing through the forest moments later, the witch just staring after her in shock while Buffy smirked next to her and shook her head, the two waiting in silence until Pat was done and returned to them, wiping her mouth and looking embarrassed, Willow just giving her a reassuring smile before they started walking again, making their way out of the forest and back home.

* * *

Once they had arrived back at the apartment, the first thing Pat did was brushing her teeth, to the relief of Willow – during the short meeting at Giles' apartment to tell him that the demon had been taken care of and the walk back home, she hadn't been able to kiss her loved one after all, and by now barely could wait to taste those sweet lips again.

Thus, this was just what she did the moment her girlfriend came out of the bathroom, smiling at her after the short and innocent kiss they had shared; returning the smile, the demon wrapped both arms around the shorter woman and pulled her close, a content sigh escaping the redhead as she enjoyed it to be held like that by her girlfriend again, something she had missed horribly during the time Pat had been suffering from amnesia.

"I'm glad Buffy came up with that idea to defeat the demon", she stated after just enjoying the loving embrace in silence for a while, pulling back so they could make their way to the couch together, sitting down on it, the redhead immediately snuggling up to her loved one. "It might have been hard to beat it with fighting, it was pretty strong…"

"Yeah", Pat gave back, grimacing as she remembered the hit she'd taken, "and the fact that my stomach was doing summersaults didn't help much, either."

"You know", Willow giggled in reply, earning a surprised look from the demon, "it was kinda funny how much that freaked you out… You're a demon, and still seeing that other demon munch away on that piece of brain disturbed you so much? I was less freaked out than you were, and I'm human."

"But you've been friends with the Slayer for quite some time", Pat pointed out in reply, clearly taking no offense from her girlfriend's laughter, "you're probably more used to such sights than I am. I've never seen such a thing before, as strange as that may sound and, God, was it gross or what?"

"It was", the witch agreed with another giggle, "but I was more stunned by how you lost your breakfast, lunch and dinner than by that sight."

"Urgh, don't remind me", the demon grimaced in reply, making Willow giggle once more – before she kept her loved one from speaking up by kissing her again, this time with much more passion than the kiss they had shared in front of the bathroom door.

"Whoa", the demon muttered when her lover's hands moved to the buttons of her shirt, "don't you ever tell me again I get worked up quickly…"

"You're hot when you fight", was the only answer she got before she was silenced with yet another kiss; immediately, she responded, and it didn't take long until all her thoughts were blown away.

* * *

A while later, Pat was slumbering soundly, as always even snoring softly; next to her, Willow had propped her head up one elbow so she could watch her properly, a small smile on her face as she did so, studying the face of her loved one. Just like she had done several times since the demon had regained her memories, she thought of all the things they had been through already, all the troubles and problems they had dealt with together and had survived; sometimes, she still found it hard to believe that they still were so happy with each other, after all the stuff they had faced together already, ranging from lies and betrayal to Pat being turned to stone and going insane, the witch not even trying to count the fights the demon had gotten into ever since she had started to go on patrol with Buffy.

During the first few months, she always had been expecting that sooner or later, all of this would be too much for their relationship, and that they'd end up breaking up; by now though, Willow was as sure as she could be that no breaking up would happen in the near future, her smile widening slightly as she kept watching the slumbering demon until she finally laid down as well and followed her loved one into dreamland, her last thought before she fell asleep being on how much she loved the woman beside her – and how good it felt to know that those feelings were returned.

End.


End file.
